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 --> 00:00:40,160 They weren't trained preachers or anything, but the word 6 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,880 preaching in the translation in the Greek means they were just 7 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,120 sharing what Jesus did for them. So if we could be more focused 8 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,200 on talking with people without an agenda, but just telling them 9 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,440 about what Jesus means to us and what He's done for us, it has 10 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,320 impact on people. They might not respond, but 11 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,400 they're thinking right. They're questioning in their 12 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:05,160 mind and it plants a seed for later on, possibly wanting to 13 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,760 know more and eventually opening their heart to receive Jesus as 14 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,920 the Lord and Savior. The early church in the book of 15 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,720 Acts is a great example of what a church should look like today. 16 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:20,360 The focus was on spreading the good news of Jesus's burial and 17 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,240 resurrection to everyone that was willing to hear it. 18 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,160 As Pastor Clark will teach you in today's message, that's how 19 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,520 lives are changed. That's how you can give someone 20 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,640 the hope of salvation and eternal life. 21 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,160 It starts with you having the courage to speak to others about 22 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,440 the faith you have. It's news that's meant to be 23 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,760 shared with everyone you can. Now here's Pastor Clark in the 24 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,360 book of Acts Chapter 8 with today's edition of Living Waters 25 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:51,800 of Grace. We're in the book of the Acts, 26 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,080 chapter 8, and it's the transition of the church from a 27 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,400 time of unity and peace to a time of persecution and 28 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,040 separation in a sense of being sent out into the rest of the 29 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,120 region. At the time when we study the 30 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,640 Bible, we're studying history, historical fact and details. 31 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,600 And how do we make this real to us today as we study these 32 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,480 things that were written thousands of years ago? 33 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,760 Each person mentioned in the Scriptures is a real person that 34 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,680 one day for us as believers, we'll meet these people in 35 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,240 heaven. We'll have a chance to talk with 36 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,320 them and to to hear their stories. 37 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,760 But in the meantime, we find out how they were wired, how they 38 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,600 lived in difficult times and much more difficult than the 39 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:45,360 times that we live in today. Whenever you study the Bible, 40 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:50,880 the Bible is written by God, by the Holy Spirit to normal 41 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:52,480 people. At that time. 42 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,400 They were given the ability to write these things down. 43 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,120 So it's the only book given to the human race that was actually 44 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:03,720 given to us by the one who created us, God. 45 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,080 So whenever you open your Bibles, you can be assured that 46 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,320 you're hearing God's heartbeat, you're learning his ways, you're 47 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,760 learning how to live for him and how to follow him and how to 48 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,640 obey him. And, and you also learn what it 49 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:22,040 means to be saved from the power of sin and how to overcome 50 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,680 temptation and how to be set free from so many things that 51 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,880 are destroying people's lives on a daily basis. 52 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,320 And so the Christians in the early church, when they first 53 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,520 became believers, the thing they wanted to do the most was to 54 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,960 tell other people about what Jesus had done for them. 55 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,600 It wasn't looking down on people or acting like they're better 56 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,440 than anybody else. It was people that had their 57 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:50,480 lives transformed and a very powerful way where their guilt 58 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,920 was taken away, the impulse to commit sin was diminished. 59 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,800 Their love for people, even enemies, was strong and 60 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,920 powerful, and they just were a whole different kind of breed of 61 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,080 people on the planet. And the more people that come to 62 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:10,320 know Jesus on this planet, the better this world can and will 63 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,160 become. The least amount of people that 64 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:17,040 know the truth of the Lord, the worse things become, the 65 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,880 tragedy, the trauma, the heartache, and it's all over the 66 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:22,680 earth. And when things like this happen 67 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,560 and we read about it and maybe we're not personally involved, 68 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,400 it affects us. We worry about our children, we 69 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,200 worry about our grandchildren, we worry about what happens in 70 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,360 the schools. It depresses us Friday just 71 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,880 thinking about like where are we as a society? 72 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,480 Where, where are we as families? Where are we as a world? 73 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:47,240 It appears that the things of God are meaningless to most of 74 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:51,120 the human race or people segment their lives and they say, well, 75 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,600 this is the time I serve God, but this is the time I serve 76 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,160 myself. And there's so much emphasis on 77 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,240 self and self focus and self-interest and self opinion. 78 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:05,520 And, and it completely goes contrary to the gospel of Jesus 79 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,240 Christ, where the gospel causes us to be less self-centered and 80 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,720 more selfless so that we might care about others who are in 81 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,680 tragedy and going through difficult times and struggles. 82 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,720 And when you look around in life, I don't know about you, 83 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,240 but I run into people every day that need Jesus. 84 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,920 And I got to figure out a way that I can be, maybe be able to 85 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,440 tell them about him without being pushy or without being, 86 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:35,840 you know, in a situation where I'm, I'm making them feel 87 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:38,400 uncomfortable or something. I want it to be natural and I 88 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,480 want it to be real. And, and one of the big things 89 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,800 we learned at the conference there was how do we, how do we 90 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:46,640 reach people in our everyday life? 91 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,840 And the guy that spoke was not even a pastor. 92 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:51,360 He was one of the guest speakers. 93 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,120 And he's a U PS: driver. He drives the big rigs. 94 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,840 And the Lord put it on his heart years ago to get in a ministry 95 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,320 to give Bibles out to people with a track called a comfort 96 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,640 track. And a comfort track has a list 97 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,320 of issues that people would want to be finding answers for, 98 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:11,720 whether it's lust or anger or hatred or unforgiveness or 99 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,520 bitterness or, you know, temptation or heartache or 100 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,880 tragedy or whatever. And you, you, you look at the 101 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,320 the title and then you can look up the verse in the Bible, 102 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,440 right. So this man has spent his whole 103 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,560 life basically figuring out how we can get Bibles into the hands 104 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,120 of people. He works, he has a backpack. 105 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,600 When he delivers his shipments to wherever he's going, he gives 106 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,440 the people a Bible as a gift. And most people when they're 107 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,000 given a gift, they take it right. 108 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:40,640 Usually you don't say, well, I don't want that. 109 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,360 I don't need it. These are really nice Bibles and 110 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,560 very attractive. And so he prays and asks the 111 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,360 Holy Spirit to fill him, to give him the ability to share the 112 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,600 good news and the faith. And so that impacted me 113 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,480 personally there as a pastor, because I'm trying to figure out 114 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,040 ways that we can get the word of God out of the building into the 115 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,800 streets, into the city, into the community, into the schools, the 116 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,680 colleges, wherever. And I thought, man, you know, we 117 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,400 got several 100 people here when everybody shows up, that we have 118 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,480 the ability to go out into places that people maybe aren't 119 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,560 going to come in here initially. And so how can we do that? 120 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,680 So we got 100 Bibles on order. When they come, they'll be 121 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,280 stacked on the altar here. So at the end of the church 122 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,400 service, when Gina gives you opportunity to pray, if you want 123 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,680 to pray, you can just walk up and grab a Bible with a comfort 124 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,280 track and pray who you might want to give that Bible away to. 125 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,400 You know, don't feel under pressure to say, Lord, put some 126 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,640 into my life this week that I can give this gift of this Bible 127 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,000 to. And this is how people come to 128 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,200 know the Lord. I don't know about how you came 129 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,480 to faith in Christ, but I came to faith in Christ by someone 130 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,800 giving me a Bible and saying, Hey, I'm getting some answers 131 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:54,240 from this. Maybe you will too. 132 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,640 And so as I began in the Gospel, in the New Testament, Matthew, 133 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,760 and worked my way through John, by the time I got through John, 134 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,880 I was a believer in Jesus Christ through the reading of 135 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,640 Scriptures. The Bible says faith comes by 136 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,360 hearing and hearing by the word of God. 137 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,800 So I text this guy that spoke and he called me. 138 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,400 I think it was Thursday morning and we talked about, you know, 139 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,960 what he does and how he does it. And this guy, man like the Lord 140 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:23,760 bless his ministry. I mean they showed pictures of, 141 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,040 of skids with Bibles on. He's gone through I think 142 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:31,240 170,000 Bibles last year. He never asked anybody for any 143 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,559 support for the Bibles. The Lord provided over $200,000 144 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:37,520 for the ministry. And when they were doing the 145 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,400 financials at the end of the year, they found that to the 146 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,400 penny. Whatever came in went out for 147 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:44,159 the outreach of the ministry of the Bibles. 148 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:46,360 Only God can do stuff like that, right? 149 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,880 So he encouraged me and and told me, you know, what was up and 150 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:52,280 how to do it. And so be praying about the 151 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:56,320 Bible outreach ministry and how each of us can be involved in 152 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,880 that one. One story I want to tell before 153 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,840 we get into the scriptures. He was at a rest stop. 154 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:03,920 He went into the bathroom and he came out. 155 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,040 There was a young girl that came out of the restroom and you 156 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,920 could tell she was parting. She was, you know, out of it 157 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:14,160 basically and dressed, you know, inappropriately pretty wild. 158 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:18,440 And and he just, the Lord gave him a word and the Holy Spirit 159 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,560 does this sometime and he put it on this guy's heart that this is 160 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:24,360 that girl's birthday. So he said, happy birthday to 161 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,520 you. And she goes, I don't know who 162 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:27,680 you are. How did you know it's my 163 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,280 birthday? So the Lord told me. 164 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,400 And then she's like, you know, OK, what's up here? 165 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,880 And then he said, well, I want to give you a gift for your 166 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,440 birthday. And so he gave her a Bible. 167 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,280 And when she got the Bible, she started breaking down and crying 168 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,600 uncontrollably. She said, my dad's a pastor, 169 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,400 he's been praying for me that I would get my life right with 170 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,520 God. And she just wept. 171 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:52,720 Her mascara, he said was all over his shirt. 172 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,280 You know, it's just a real emotional thing there. 173 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:59,080 But so cool what the Lord can do, right? 174 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:03,240 So please be praying for our church and for our lives as 175 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,880 Christians and how we might be more effective in reaching 176 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,640 people with the gospel. You don't have to get into a 177 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,120 long conversation. All the answers are in the 178 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:13,680 Bible. You just say, hey, I got a lot 179 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:16,920 of answers in life about this and and you pray that the Lord 180 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,080 will use it and we'll give them a way of connecting with us if 181 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,760 they have questions or they want to know more about the Lord. 182 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,680 But that was one of the big takeaways at the conference 183 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:30,760 there. And so pray for all the pastors 184 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:35,400 who are exposed to those kind of things at conferences like that, 185 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,600 that we just don't come home and do nothing but that we listen to 186 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,040 what it is that the Lord wants us to do and and move ahead, 187 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,800 right, move forward and getting the gospel out. 188 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:47,440 That's the purpose of the church. 189 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:53,160 When we read in Acts here today, we we begin to see the 190 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:57,160 challenges of of being Christians and in environments 191 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,240 and cultures that are unchristian. 192 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:04,320 There's movements in our country to eliminate the gospel and to 193 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,080 prevent us from freely preaching the good news. 194 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,360 The world needs good news. I for the life of me, I have no 195 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,840 idea why people are against good news right, But that's the work 196 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,120 of the devil. So we we begin in chapter 8 with 197 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,600 verse one. It says now Saul was consenting 198 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,680 to his death. We just read last week about 199 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:26,040 Stephen, the first martyr in the New Testament church. 200 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,520 You can read Chapter 7 to get caught up if you've never heard 201 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:31,240 of that or don't know anything about it. 202 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:38,080 But Saul, who eventually became Paul the apostle, was a very, 203 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:42,600 very strong, powerful force against the church. 204 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,840 In the beginning. He was a Jewish person. 205 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:47,920 He looked at Christianity as a cult. 206 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,040 He didn't like Christians. He didn't want them to be 207 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,560 spreading the gospel in the communities. 208 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:58,080 And so he's focused on bringing persecution and says at that 209 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:03,080 time a great persecution arose against the church, which was at 210 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,520 Jerusalem. So the church started in 211 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:07,720 Jerusalem. Pressure comes down. 212 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:11,120 Now initially when the gospel happened, several 1000 people 213 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,480 get saved. A lot of people in Jerusalem 214 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:17,000 still not saved. So it really didn't mess up the 215 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,560 culture too much at the time from the unbelievers point of 216 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:21,840 view. But then more and more people 217 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,160 are being attracted to Christ, More and more and more people 218 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,720 are being invited to hear about Jesus. 219 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:32,080 And when they hear about him, they begin to believe in him and 220 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,280 their lives begin to change and they begin to tell other people. 221 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,080 And so this gospel is spreading in Jerusalem. 222 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,880 So Saul sees this happening. He wants to shut it down, just 223 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:44,720 like in China. They don't want anybody 224 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,320 spreading the gospel. And if you get caught spreading 225 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,480 the gospel, you get thrown in jail, arrested, and many times 226 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,240 you're in there for the rest of your life if you're not martyred 227 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,440 or killed for spreading the gospel. 228 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,000 So it says this great persecution came and, and, and 229 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,840 it started in Jerusalem. They were all scattered 230 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,320 throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. 231 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,080 See, the apostles are still in camp in the center of influence 232 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,160 at the beginning of the church age in Jerusalem. 233 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,120 But what's happening is the believers are being pushed out 234 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,840 into other areas surrounding Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. 235 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,560 And Jesus said at in Acts 18, whenever the Holy Spirit was 236 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:28,160 poured out upon the earth after his, as he's after his 237 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,360 ascension, he said, you shall receive power when the Holy 238 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,680 Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses of me in 239 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:39,200 Jerusalem, which is where they're at now, Then Judea, then 240 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,880 Samaria and then the other most parts of the earth. 241 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,560 So the whole focus of God isn't like the gospel is just like 242 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,120 right now here in Greensburg. I mean, we, we support 243 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,760 missionaries to take the gospel and other parts of the world, 244 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:54,120 which is the Great Commission to go into all the world, preach 245 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,520 the gospel to every living creature, right. 246 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,360 And then when they believe, baptizing them in the name of 247 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:03,240 the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all 248 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,720 things whatsoever I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you always, 249 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,080 even to the end of the age. We're going to have a baptism at 250 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:10,440 our house. We have a swimming pool. 251 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,400 So no one, if you haven't been baptized yet, after you become a 252 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,840 believer, please let us know. Let Pastor Lewis know the other 253 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:22,240 guys and we will get you baptized in 85° weather, OK, 85° 254 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:24,000 temperature, water. It's not tough to take. 255 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,480 But anyway, that's the focus of the gospel. 256 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:34,280 So Paul wants to shut this down and he he was interested in 257 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:38,640 seeing people taken out by their preaching of the gospel. 258 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,120 It says devout men carried Stephen to his burial. 259 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,520 So Stephen was stoned for preaching the gospel. 260 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:49,720 Jewish people who are believers or had respect for Stephen came 261 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,880 and got his body and says they made great lamentation over him. 262 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,520 In other words, lamentation was they were crying, they were 263 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:58,720 upset, they were burdened because of the horrible thing 264 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,680 that they had witnessed. To see this man bloodied just 265 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,960 because he was sharing a message of love, just sharing a message 266 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,360 of love, the good news of of Jesus and dying on the cross for 267 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,600 our sins. As for Saul, this is before he 268 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,080 became a believer. He made havoc of the church, 269 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,280 entering every house and dragging off men and women, 270 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,000 committing them to prison. So you can visualize this. 271 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,720 Say we're here today and it's Jerusalem and we're meeting and 272 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,920 I'm just up here sharing the Word, sharing the gospel. 273 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,000 Next thing you know, people are coming in, grabbing me, taking 274 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:35,160 me out, beating me, scaring you. Everybody's fleeing, worried, 275 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,280 running. And this is what this guy did. 276 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,000 He made havoc. He was a real problem at this 277 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,720 time and he put the people into prison and we'll read about him 278 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,000 later on as we get through Acts and how God miraculously saved 279 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,200 him. You might know someone who's 280 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,000 really wicked, someone who is evil, someone who is demonic, 281 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,520 someone who is this really a terrible person. 282 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,360 And you might think in your mind, there's no way the Gospels 283 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,560 for them, there's no way they'll ever believe. 284 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,520 Don't ever think that if God can save Paul, he can save anybody. 285 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,680 If God can save you and me, he can save anybody, right? 286 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,400 So that's the power of the Holy Spirit. 287 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,240 So anyway, we continue. It says in verse 4, therefore 288 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,800 those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. 289 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,560 So these people were just normal people like us. 290 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,600 They weren't trained preachers or anything, but the word 291 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,280 preaching in the translation in the Greek means they were just 292 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:34,400 sharing what Jesus did for them. So if we could be more focused 293 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,440 on talking with people without an agenda, but just telling them 294 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,600 about what Jesus means to us and what He's done for us, it has 295 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,400 impact on people. They might not respond, but 296 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,480 they're thinking right. They're questioning in their 297 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:52,120 mind, and it plants a seed for later on, possibly wanting to 298 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,680 know more and eventually opening their heart to receive Jesus as 299 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,600 their Lord and Savior. So they're spreading around. 300 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,160 Then this guy, Phillip, he's another one of the men who were 301 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,280 chosen to take care of the widows and the orphans we 302 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:07,760 studied earlier. Stephen was one of those guys. 303 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,599 And Phillip, he's going down to the city of Samaria and 304 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:15,839 preaching Christ to them. Now Samaria was a place of half 305 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:17,960 breeds. If you understand, 1/2 breed 306 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,800 someone maybe who has this ethnic background. 307 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,720 They marry someone of another ethnic background. 308 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:26,240 They're not pure bred Jewish people, right? 309 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,880 But it doesn't matter because God came for the whole world. 310 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:32,720 He's not looking at these things the way we do as people. 311 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:38,240 But they were disrespected by the Hebrew Jews and they were 312 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,440 intermarrying during the Assyrian captivity. 313 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,400 When they were taken up into the north, they met Pagan Gentiles 314 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,280 and and some of these people got married. 315 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,240 And so they had these families that were mixed in the sense of 316 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:54,920 religious background. So he goes into Samaria and he 317 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,480 preaches Christ to them and the multitudes with 1 accord. 318 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:00,440 He did the things spoken by Philip. 319 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,120 So in other words, there's a lot of people. 320 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:04,040 He's not in a building like this. 321 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:06,840 He's on the streets. There's a big crowd collecting 322 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,160 every time these guys would go around and preach the word and 323 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:13,680 all these people are listening to what he's saying and they're 324 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,640 believing what it is he's saying. 325 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,040 And they hear and they see miracles, which he did for 326 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,960 unclean spirits. Crying with a loud voice came 327 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,040 out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and 328 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,720 lame were healed. And there was great joy in the 329 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:30,960 city. So whenever God does miracles 330 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,480 and whenever he changes a life or he, he takes someone out of 331 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,320 the burden of sin and gives them a brand new start, a brand new 332 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:39,200 heart. I mean, that's a joyous 333 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,160 experience. And this is what was happening 334 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:44,440 as a result of the word being preached that there would be joy 335 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,600 in the hearts of the people and there was great joy in that 336 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,400 city. And then in verse 9, it says 337 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:54,200 that there was a certain man called Simon who previously 338 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:56,800 practiced sorcery. In other words, he was in the 339 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,920 occult, witchcraft, all kind of weird New Age kind of stuff even 340 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:02,920 before we even knew what New Age stuff was. 341 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,400 It existed way back then and astonished the people of 342 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,240 Samaria. In other words, he he did 343 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,600 counterfeit miracles, claiming that he was summoned great, to 344 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,000 whom they all gave heed. In other words, all these people 345 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,640 at the time thought this guy was a man of God from the least to 346 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,240 the greatest saying This man is the great is the great power of 347 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:22,760 God. So when they looked at Simon the 348 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,760 sorcerer, because of his magic incantations, they sensed that 349 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,160 he had some kind of power, but it wasn't of God, it was really 350 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,240 of the devil. And so they heeded him because 351 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:38,480 he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. 352 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,800 So these magic arts that this guy did, he had had a big 353 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:45,440 business and people followed him around because of his ability to 354 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,720 do really amazing things. But when they believed Philip as 355 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,280 he preached the things concerning the Kingdom of God in 356 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,920 the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 357 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,760 So in other words, there's this revival going on, Philip's 358 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,360 preaching, people are believing, and they're. 359 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,880 Are getting baptized pretty much immediately after their 360 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:07,920 profession of faith in Jesus Christ. 361 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,920 He's preaching to them concerning the Kingdom of God 362 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,120 and the name of Jesus Christ. Both men and women were 363 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:19,200 baptized. So there's a difference between 364 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,160 bringing a message with Christ and without Christ. 365 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,400 The sorcerer brought incantations and magic arts 366 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:32,400 without any emphasis on Jesus Christ as people do today. 367 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,680 It's false teaching and false doctrine, and people can't get 368 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:41,160 saved by following magic arts or occult or witchcraft or casting 369 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,720 spells, all this stuff. It's a big deal out there in the 370 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,560 culture now. People get demonically oppressed 371 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,200 and possessed by messing around with this kind of stuff that's 372 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,560 out there. If you are involved in any of 373 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:58,480 these kind of things, New Age stuff, trying to have seances 374 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,000 through Ouija boards to talk to the dead, or you're trying to 375 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,760 get involved in all this dark side of what they call 376 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:10,200 mysticism, you're opening yourself up to demonic activity 377 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,520 and you're not even aware of it. And so these people are going to 378 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:17,600 get set free now because they're no longer going to follow Simon 379 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:19,920 the sorcerer. They're going to follow Jesus 380 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,520 Christ the Savior. And there's a big difference in 381 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,240 truth, right? There's only one truth, one way, 382 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,880 one life, and that's in Jesus Christ, not in this other kind 383 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:33,640 of crazy stuff that's out there. So Simon himself also believes 384 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:38,160 that this guy was convicted, obviously, and he appears to 385 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,560 have put his faith in Christ and he was baptized. 386 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,360 He continued with Philip. He he kept going around with 387 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:47,760 Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were 388 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:49,640 done. He just blown away. 389 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,400 He had miracle power in himself, but nothing like what he was 390 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:55,080 seeing happening through Philip's life. 391 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,000 Because what was happening in Philip's life is being done by 392 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,640 Christ, by the Holy Spirit through this man's life. 393 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,760 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria 394 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,560 had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to 395 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,040 them. So the apostles go down to meet 396 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,480 these new believers who when they came down, prayed for them 397 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,960 that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 398 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,120 For as yet he had fallen upon none of them. 399 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,440 They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 400 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,600 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy 401 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:29,920 Spirit. So when you look at Acts chapter 402 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,920 1 to Acts chapter 10, it's a transitionary period. 403 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,600 You can't pull a doctrine out of something you read in Acts. 404 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,920 It's mentioned one time and say that's how the church performs 405 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,440 the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. 406 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,040 In other words, you need a special person to lay hands on 407 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,400 you to pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit. 408 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,640 That's not taught in the rest of the Bible. 409 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,800 But in the beginning stages, because everything was new in 410 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,760 different people groups, you had the Jews that were baptized by 411 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,480 the Spirit at Pentecost. No one really had to lay hands 412 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,920 on them. The power of the Spirit came out 413 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,520 at Pentecost and filled the people in the upper room, 120 414 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,080 people at that time. And then when people believed, 415 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,720 they they were baptized by the Holy Spirit, by God the Holy 416 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,360 Spirit supernaturally and placed in the body of Christ in the 417 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,600 church as Christians. But as time moved on in the 418 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,800 initial stages, these different people groups were beginning to 419 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,000 hear the gospel. And so God chose to use this 420 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,600 method initially to bring the power of the Holy Spirit through 421 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,040 the hands of the apostles on top of the heads of the people who 422 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,520 had thus become believers. And so this is what happened. 423 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,800 And they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 424 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,200 Now in the New Testament, though, we see that the Holy 425 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,800 Spirit, this idea of being filled with the Spirit of God, 426 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,760 happens all the time. We need to be constantly asking 427 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,480 God to fill us with the Spirit because we get empty. 428 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:00,360 Thank you for listening to this edition of Living Waters of 429 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,560 Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching us 430 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,760 about the book of Acts in this series. 431 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,440 Acts is a powerful and unique part of Scripture, not just 432 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,240 because it records the spread of the gospel geographically from 433 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,400 Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but also culturally. 434 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,080 Acts shows us how the message of Jesus moved beyond its Jewish 435 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,720 roots and began to reach the Gentile world. 436 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:26,320 What started with Peter leading a small group in the Upper Room 437 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,200 became a global movement with Paul taking the gospel to 438 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,440 cities, synagogues and marketplaces across the Roman 439 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,360 Empire. Acts captures this vital 440 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:41,160 transition and reminds us that the good news of Jesus is for 441 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,080 all people in every place. May we be inspired to carry that 442 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,400 same gospel boldly into our world today. 443 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,120 Living Waters of Grace comes to you from Calvary Chapel, 444 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,120 Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 445 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:01,040 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 446 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,120 Pray about helping support the new station that will reach 447 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,400 thousands more listeners. Send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 448 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:18,400 716, Greensburg, PA 15601 also invite you to join us in person 449 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:23,240 this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 450 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,760 Unit 6B. To stay up to date, visit 451 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,560 calvarychapelonline.com where you can find our teaching 452 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,720 archive, submit prayer requests, join our e-mail list, or give 453 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,360 online. If you're outside the area, 454 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,280 don't worry, you can still worship with us through the 455 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,080 Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel. 456 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,400 Be sure to subscribe so you won't miss new content. 457 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,040 We're so thankful that you joined us today. 458 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,600 Be sure to tune into the next edition of Living Waters of 459 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:53,120 Grace.