This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
The repentance that Peter's preaching about is a change of
mind. You might be here today and
God's challenging you to change your thinking, change your mind.
He's not telling you you got to be perfect.
You got to act perfect because you can't be perfect.
Only He's perfect. But He's saying that I will take
your hand and show you a new way to live.
And I was at that point ready for a new way to live, and he
gave me new life. No matter how hard you and I
try, we cannot live up to God's standard of perfection.
Our hearts are stained by sin and we are unworthy of God's
presence. But Pastor Clark reminds us that
by the blood of Jesus, we have a new way to gain access to the
Father's throne room. When we repent of our sins and
commit our lives to Jesus, he calls us to a new way of living.
While we will never live up to that perfect standard, Jesus
lifts our heads. It reminds us that in him we are
made righteous and holy. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts
Chapter 5 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
So here we are today, where we're viewed by people in the
House and the Congress and in the White House as troublemakers
that need to be silenced. Where are you and me in regard
to sharing our faith? I met with the evangelist at the
campus of Penn State College last week.
He's been a friend of mine for years, and he stands in front of
the science building. All these bright young brains
coming out of Penn State to go into incredible careers and he
would just talk and preach and share and give positions on what
is truth and students would engage with him.
Some would argue, some would listen, some would end up
believing and become Christians. Well, Gary told me now, he said,
Clark, it's so bad up here that anybody that's a student that
hears this will be really apprehensive about engaging me
in any kind of dialogue. Because they said what'll happen
is, is that the students will get blackballed on Facebook or
social media and they'll be held out as being like right wing
crazy people because they are interested in the gospel of
Christ. And they're concerned that
that'll be set up somehow in their resumes and they won't be
able to get jobs. And so they're like running
silent. Fortunately, he's he's allowed
to continually do that. Quite a wealthy man many years
ago made an endowment to the college that this would be the
deal, that there would be a preacher in front of the science
building until Jesus came being funded by some very wealthy
person. So they can't throw Gary off
campus. They just got to put up with
him, which is. Which is pretty cool, you know?
Yeah, So you have the situation, though, that in Jerusalem at the
time, I mean, it was definitely bad and and I would say worse
than what maybe we think we're experiencing right now.
The captain went with the officers and brought them
without violence. They feared the people would
unless they should be stoned. And when they brought them, they
set them before the council. And the high priest asked them
saying, did not we strictly command you not to teach in his
name? Like what?
What's up with you guys? We told you you can't do this.
And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and
intended to bring this man's blood on us.
So what? What's amazing is there was such
a a power in the early church that the whole city was aware of
the gospel. Unfortunately, the whole city of
Greensburg, I'm sure, is not aware of the Gospel, nor the
state of Pennsylvania, nor the United States of America, let
alone the rest of the world. Why?
Because we as Christians have been, I think, apathetic or
complacent in regard to sharing our faith when we have
opportunities to share it. I'm not talking about pushing
people with this stuff. There was a time when people
tell me about this before I believed I didn't want to hear
them. So I don't want to, I don't want
to hear about this stuff. So people would, you know,
respect me and my opinion and maybe pray for me, but they
wouldn't bug me about this stuff all the time.
But there has to be this opportunity to have conversation
with people that have views that are different than yours and
mine, not out of judgment, but out of love.
You want lost people to know that there's a God who loves
them and cares about them no matter what they've done.
He's a forgiving, merciful God that has to be in our hearts as
Christians, front and center. And the positions of that come
up, you know, nowadays in regard to human sexuality or, you know,
issues of when life is truly in the womb and positions of morals
and creation and all these things that are obviously very
viable truths that need to be communicated right to people
that don't know the other side. I mean, I think it's good to
have a, a, a conversation with someone who's an evolutionist,
you know, ridicule them and make fun of them and call them
stupid, whatever you want to find out why they think the way
they think and what causes them to have the position they have.
And then share some information that you have regarding Genesis
and what the Bible teaches about how mankind came into existence
in regard to the issue of jobs right now and all the people
that or complaining, there's no one that's out there that wants
to work well. No one ever asks the question,
why is there less people physically able to work?
Well, when you think about the number of lives that have been
taken over the last 30 years, if they weren't taken, there'd be a
lot of people that would be here that could work or do whatever.
They're not here. They weren't given a chance.
They were taken out before they were born.
So these kind of situations are things that have to be
communicated. And so are we afraid?
Are we different than these people here?
Because, well, what if they don't like me anymore?
What if they hate me? Or what if they reject me?
Or what if they you know, what if what if I got fired from my
job because I I have a position of Christian principles.
That's something you have to look down deep inside and know
that God does expect us to speak out about truth.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he's delivered out of
the hands of the enemy. So these guys are being accused
of filling the city with the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus
with that's that's a good thing, right?
And then these guys are complaining, well, you're
bringing this man's blood on us. They forget that months ago when
they were standing and Pilot was there saying this man is
innocent. I refuse to be held culpable for
his demise. He's washing his hands as a
symbol that he's not guilty. Pilot's saying, you know, I'm
not going to be guilty of this man's blood on my hands.
And they yelled, yelled out, well, let his blood be on our
hands. The masses cried out.
So it's already true that the man's blood of the crucifixion
of Christ is on everyone who's rejected Christ and who's lived
willful, sinful lives to realize they're responsible for the
crucifixion. So Peter and the other apostles
answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men.
Now the Bible tells us that we have authorities in office to
keep the Commonwealth safe from the governing officials to the
police departments, all these kind of things.
We're told to respect these people that have rollover us.
That's in the Bible. But there comes a time where you
may have to decide that there's certain things you're being told
you can or cannot do that are against your constitutional
rights and your Christian liberties.
Where you can say, well, I respect your opinion, but I have
to obey God rather than man to stand up for what the truth is.
And this is what Peter said. Now, this guy was a guy that was
a wimp, freaking out whenever they asked him.
Before Jesus was crucified, you were with him, weren't you one
of his followers? No, I never knew him.
I never saw him. He's cursing.
You know, he's he's he's doing all he can to get out of the
issue of being connected with Jesus.
How different it is now that he's still with the power of the
Holy Spirit and he's able to boldly say we ought to obey God
rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up
Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.
Him God has exalted to his right hand to be Prince and savior.
That word Prince is translated as pioneer.
He was the first and only one that could die and come to life
again through resurrection. And because of what he's done,
we're all followers of him. We're also going to be
resurrected on that final day. We have life everlasting because
of what Christ has done for us. And then he continues preaching.
He says him, God has exalted to his right hand to be Prince and
Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
That's a good news thing, right? It's like repentance is turning
direction. Like I know my own life, you
know, and you know your life. There came a point in life where
I was hell bound. I was going on, I was on that
highway to hell, you know, and, and I didn't care.
And I that's the way I was. And this is how I rolled.
And this is what my life was like.
And then by the grace of God, through the prayers of a godly
mother and other people, praying for a son that was wayward and
lost and clueless and proud and arrogant and self-centered, that
my heart would be softened and I would be slightly interested in
this message of forgiveness in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So at 20 years old, I began to think there has to be more to
life than what I'm living and how I'm living.
And I wasn't happy anymore. I wasn't peaceful, I wasn't
satisfied. I, I didn't have any peace in my
life, had no joy. And then I'm confronted with
this message of the gospel and it began to really get to me and
it began to make me realize I needed to change my evil ways.
Remember that song by Santana? You've got to change your evil
ways. That was a big song back then
when I and I was, I was enjoying my evil ways.
Well, all of a sudden I wasn't having fun in evil ways anymore
and I knew I needed to change. But how do I change?
I can't change myself. And then the Lord began to teach
me that. I'll change you, Clark.
I'll make you new. I'll give you a new heart, a new
way of looking at things, a new mind.
I'll give you my Bible, the Word.
Or you can learn and understand what it means to be a follower
of me. That I'm still learning today
how to follow Him deeper and closer.
It doesn't end just when you become a believer.
The first day, it's a constant every day changing my mind about
the way I am and things that God wants to do different in my
heart or help me to see things in a deeper perspective.
The repentance that Peter's preaching about is a change of
mind. You might be here today and
God's challenging you to change your thinking, change your mind.
He's not telling you you've got to be perfect.
You've got to act perfect because you can't be perfect.
Only He's perfect. But He's saying that I will take
your hand and show you a new way to live.
And I was at that point ready for a new way to live.
And He gave me new life. He said if anyone is in Christ
as a new creation, old things pass away.
Behold, all things become new. And he said, and we are his
witnesses. Peter said, we are the
witnesses. That's what we are in this
church as Christians, as people, as brothers and sisters.
You know, you go to places, you know people I, I don't know and
vice versa. You have an opportunity to
spread this gospel, this witness to give people an opportunity to
understand what the Lord has done for you and what he can do
for them. We are witnesses to these
things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to
those who obey him. I'm so excited studying a book
of the Acts right now personally, because I know it's
energizing my life as a pastor and the other leaders in the
church. But I'm sure it's energizing you
too, to share the Lord. And I get more texts and phone
calls now than I have in a long time.
Pray for this person. I'm sharing the Lord with them.
Pray for that person that doesn't know Jesus or, you know,
this person's closed or this person became a believer,
whatever. I mean, it's, it's exciting
because the witness is what gets the gospel out.
And so the culture, as I said, can change based upon us talking
more about the good news, right? Talking about the good news,
telling people the good news. So there's this guy Gamaliel
here, and we're gonna read this and then we'll finish up in this
section. Gamaliel was a a leader in the
Jewish sect of the Pharisees, a very bright guy.
The Apostle Paul, before he got saved, sat at the feet of
Gamaliel. He was a very, very bright guy.
As a matter of fact, when he died, he was such a strict Jew
that they said when he died, the Jewish people weren't that on
fire about their faith anymore and they began to become laxed
in their following of the law and all that kind of stuff.
But anyway, he's going to give some advice here.
When they heard what Peter said this, they were furious and
plotted to kill them. I mean, this is the first time
in accident. They're just not mad and put him
in prison. We're gonna kill these guys and
get rid of him. Then one in the council stood
up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in
respect by all the people. He was respected by everyone and
commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little
while. Calm down, guys, Quiet down.
Put these guys out. I want to give you some other
perspective here. And he said that the men of
Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding
these men. Think about it.
He's speaking some sanity to him.
For some time ago, Thaddeus rose up claiming to be somebody.
This was a cult leader. A number of men, about 400,
joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed
him were scattered and came to nothing.
So in other words, this, this leader, at this time, this guy
Thaddeus, wasn't really effective when he died.
His movement, his, his plan, whatever it was, ended up coming
to nothing. Verse 37 After this man, there's
another guy they mentioned in their history.
Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away
many people after him. He also perished, and all who
obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you, keep away
from these men and let them alone.
For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing.
But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be
found to fight against God. Isn't that fascinating?
Over 2000 years ago, this thing has not ended being nothing, has
it? We're all here today, recipients
of the power of the gospel. Every one of these men, these
apostles except for one, the apostle John, were martyred,
Very serious ways of dying, being speared to death, being
hung, being put upside down on a cross, on and on and on.
Horrific deaths every apostle had except for John, They tried
to destroy him in boiling water, didn't work.
And he ended up this time of old age after down the road, after
he wrote the Book of Revelation. So he speaks truth to these guys
to think about what they're doing, and they agreed with him.
And this Gamaliel isn't even a Christian and he's not really
fascinated or interested in, even though he knows about the
miracles that have occurred. You know, there's a lot of
people that that believe historically that Jesus is real,
that he died, that he rose again, that he did miracles, but
they still don't believe. That's ironic.
It's just the pride in the heart that keeps us from humbling
ourselves and surrendering our lives to the will of God.
I fought that for years. I, I didn't, I turned my back on
this stuff. I'm so thankful that God and His
grace turned my life around so that I could commit my life to
following Jesus and wanting to be a witness, wanting to be a
better witness. So they agreed with him.
And when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they
commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and
they let them go. This wasn't a calm beating.
It was 39 lashes so bad that it ripped their skin apart.
People died from a blood hemorrhage from these kind of
beatings. So it wasn't a light discipline,
but they told them you guys should not speak in the name of
Jesus and let them go. It's interesting how it's
translated here. You should not speak in a
they're not saying you, you will not speak in the name of Jesus.
They're trying to like convince them because of the beating and
all this other stuff, you, you know, you really shouldn't be
doing this anymore. You're just creating more
problems for yourselves and pain and suffering.
So they departed from the presence of the Council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his
name, Remarkable men that they were actually proud that they
went through this beating and the suffering and they were
associated with Jesus Christ. And I pray that would be the
case for us. Whenever we get pushed back or
people don't like us anymore, they, you know, condemn us or
accuse us or slander us or whatever about whatever in life
that we don't really focus on what people say or think.
We're just glad that we're affiliated with the Holy
Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that we are
representatives of the Creator God, and that we have the
privilege to live for Him and speak on behalf of Him and share
the Gospel with whoever will listen.
They were, they counted it worthy to suffer shame for His
name. Whenever you feel embarrassed or
shame because you're a follower of Jesus, read this chapter
again and be encouraged that you don't have to hold your head
down in shame. You can hold your head up high
knowing that one day, whenever you stand before the Lord and
give an account of how you lived your life, the things that'll
matter at that time is what you did for Jesus.
How you spoke up for Him, how you lived for Him, how you cared
for people. You're not responsible for the
results of who believes or who doesn't believe.
We can't make anybody believe that God uses your life and mine
to be a bridge between lost people in the Kingdom of God.
Then it finishes in verse 42. It says in daily, in the temple
and in every house. They did not cease teaching and
preaching Jesus as the Christ. Isn't that a wonderful way of
ending this chapter daily in the temple and in every house.
They did not cease. In other words, the directions
they were given by the governing authorities to not speak in the
name of Jesus was not followed. They did not stop teaching and
preaching Jesus as the Christ and I believe that's what we're
to do. We, you know, we don't stop
teaching or preaching the gospel because of what people say or
what they threaten us with. We just keep on doing what we're
called to do, right? To be witnesses of the Lord.
I pray this week He would give you opportunity to love on
people, love on your neighbors, love on your enemy, love on your
family, your friends, and share humbly the good news with
someone. Ask the Lord to give you one
person this week just to say something about God, what He's
done for you, how He's blessed you, how He's loved you, how
He's forgiven you, and that He wants to do that with every
human being, doesn't he? He wants to do that for every
human being. And the only way they'll know is
by us telling them, May God give you strength and me strength to
do that. We're so glad you joined us
today on this edition of Living Waters of Grace.
Pastor Clark is teaching through the Book of Acts, which is the
only book that chronicles the history of the early church
immediately after Jesus's ascension.
It gives us a front row seat to how the Gospel began to move
outwards, starting in Jerusalem and reaching into the heart of
the Roman Empire. In just three decades, a small
group of frightened ordinary believers became a bold, spirit
empowered movement that transformed the known world.
Acts is not just a history lesson.
It's a reminder of what God can do when His people are
surrendered, obedient and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Their perseverance still inspires us today.
May we follow their example and live faithfully for Christ in
our own time. We hope today's message
encouraged you. Living Waters of Grace is a
ministry of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland.
If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we'd love to have you join
us in person. Our Sunday service begins at
10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
Be sure to visit calvarychapelonline.com to
confirm times and learn more. If you are in the Greensburg
area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency.
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Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
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Thank you for tuning in and spending this time in God's
Word. Be sure to join us again for
Living Waters of Grace.