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.
Some people stop reading their Bible because their heart isn't
right with God. Some people stop praying because
their heart isn't right with God.
Have you ever tried to pray when your heart isn't right with God?
Have you ever tried to open your Bible when your heart isn't
right with God? Nothing going to happen, right?
You just don't want to do it. You know, down deep inside you
should, but there's something blocking you from doing what it
is that the Lord wants. And then all we simply need to
do is say, Lord, my heart isn't right with you.
Forgive me, I repent. Soften my heart.
A healthy relationship with God is 1 where you constantly grow
in Him. The old sins that you used to
commit shouldn't have a place in your life anymore.
It should look different today. You'll get to see with Pastor
Clark that your life should stand out as a Christian.
People should notice something different about you.
One of those differences is that you now should be telling others
about the good news of salvation that you've received.
That's how others can hear and receive salvation too.
Now here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 8 with
today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
Philip, he's another one of the men who were chosen to take care
of the widows and the orphans we studied earlier.
Stephen was one of those guys. And Philip, he's going down to
the city of Samaria and preaching Christ to them.
Now Samaria was a place of half breeds.
If, if you understand 1/2 breed someone maybe who has this
ethnic background. They marry someone of another
ethnic background. They're not pure bred Jewish
people, right? But it doesn't matter because
God came for the whole world. He's not looking at these things
the way we do as people. But they were disrespected by
the Hebrew Jews and they were intermarrying during the
Assyrian captivity. When they were taken up into the
north, they met Pagan Gentiles and and some of these people got
married. And so they had these families
that were mixed in the sense of religious background.
So he goes into Samaria and he preaches Christ to them and the
multitudes with 1 accord. He did the things spoken by
Philip. So in other words, there's a lot
of people. He's not in a building like
this. He's on the streets.
There's a big crowd collecting every time these guys would go
around and preach the word and all these people are listening
to what he's saying and they're believing what it is he's
saying. And they hear and they see
miracles, which he did for unclean spirits.
Crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed,
and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
And there was great joy in the city.
So whenever God does miracles and whenever he changes a life
or he, he takes someone out of the burden of sin and gives them
a brand new start, a brand new heart.
I mean, that's a joyous experience.
This is what was happening as a result of the word being
preached that there would be joy in the hearts of the people and
there was great joy in that city.
And then in verse 9, it says, but there was a certain man
called Simon who previously practiced sorcery.
In other words, he was into occult, witchcraft, all kind of
weird New age kind of stuff even before we even knew what new Age
stuff was. It existed way back then and
astonished the people of Samaria.
In other words, he he did counterfeit miracles, claiming
that he was someone great to whom they all gave heed.
In other words, all these people at the time thought this guy was
a man of God from the least to the greatest, saying this man is
the great is the great power of God.
So when they looked at Simon the sorcerer, because of his magic
incantations, they sensed that he had some kind of power, but
it wasn't of God, it was really of the devil.
And so they heeded him because he had astonished them with his
sorceries for a long time. So these magic arts that this
guy did, he had had a big business and people followed him
around because of his ability to do really amazing things.
But when they believed Philip, as he preached the things
concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, both
men and women were baptized. So in other words, there's this
revival going on, Philip's preaching.
People are believing and they are getting baptized pretty much
immediately after their profession of faith in Jesus
Christ. He's preaching to them
concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.
Both men and women were baptized, so there's a
difference between bringing a message with Christ and without
Christ. The sorcerer brought
incantations and magic arts without any emphasis on Jesus
Christ as people do today. It's false teaching and false
doctrine, and people can't get saved by following magic arts or
occult or witchcraft or casting spells, all this stuff.
It's a big deal out there in the culture now.
People get demonically oppressed and possessed by messing around
with this kind of stuff that's out there.
If you are involved in any of these kind of things, New Age
stuff, trying to have seances through Ouija boards to talk to
the dead, or you're trying to get involved in all this dark
side of what they call mysticism, you're opening your
yourself up to demonic activity and you're not even aware of it.
And so these people are going to get set free now because they're
no longer going to follow Simon the sorcerer.
They're going to follow Jesus Christ as savior.
And there's a big difference in truth, right?
There's only one truth, one way, one life, and that's in Jesus
Christ, not in this other kind of crazy stuff that's out there.
So Simon himself also believes that this guy was convicted,
obviously, and he appears to have put his faith in Christ and
he was baptized. He continued with Philip.
He he kept going around with Philip and was amazed seeing the
miracles and signs which were done.
He just blown away. He had miracle power in himself,
but nothing like what he was seeing happening through
Philip's life. Because what was happening in
Philip's life is being done by Christ, by the Holy Spirit
through this man's life. Now when the apostles who were
at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
they sent Peter and John to them.
So the apostles go down to meet these new believers who when
they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy
Spirit. For as yet he had fallen upon
none of them. They had only been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on
them and they received the Holy Spirit.
So when you look at Acts chapter 1 to Acts chapter 10, it's a
transitionary period. You can't pull a doctrine out of
something you read in Acts. It's mentioned one time and say
that's how the church performs the empowerment of the Holy
Spirit. In other words, you need a
special person to lay hands on you to pray for you to receive
the Holy Spirit. That's not taught in the rest of
the Bible. But in the beginning stages,
because everything was new in different people groups, you had
the Jews that were baptized by the Spirit at Pentecost.
No one really had to lay hands on them.
The power of the Spirit came out at Pentecost and filled the
people in the upper room, 120 people at that time.
And then when people believed, they were baptized by the Holy
Spirit, by God the Holy Spirit supernaturally and placed in the
body of Christ in the church as Christians.
But as time moved on in the initial stages, these different
people groups were beginning to hear the gospel.
And so God chose to use this method initially to bring the
power of the Holy Spirit through the hands of the apostles on top
of the heads of the people who had thus become believers.
And so this is what happened. And they laid hands on them and
they received the Holy Spirit. Now in the New Testament,
though, we see that the Holy Spirit, this idea of being
filled with the Spirit of God happens all the time.
We need to be constantly asking God to fill us with the Spirit
because we get empty, we get weak, we, we drain, we get upset
or we get, you know, whatever we're going through.
And whenever you're going through stuff that is making you
weak and, and tired and cast down, that's when you need by
faith to say, Lord, I need a fresh infilling of your Holy
Spirit. I need you to fill me again.
Refresh me and he will. It's by faith we pray and God
fills us with the Spirit. Sometimes we have someone to
pray for us and, and we know someone's hurting and they're
wounded. So we can lay our hands on
someone and there's no special power in our hands, but there's
power in prayer. And so when we lay our hands to
pray for someone who's broken or hurting or or physically
infirmed or whatever the issue might be, it isn't the hands
that does anything, but it's the power of God's Spirit in the
midst of the prayer that can change and transform
circumstances in people's lives. You know, you can get your
husband to pray for you. You can get your wife to pray
for you. You can pray for your kids, you
can get your kids to pray for you.
And God works. He's not limited by Sunday
morning in the front of the church.
And prayer. I encourage you if you need
prayer to come, we have people here to pray for you.
But if you're intimidated and you don't feel like you want
people to know what you're up to, what's going on, you can get
in the car with your husband and say, can you lay hands on me and
pray for me that I might have a fresh infilling of the Holy
Spirit? It's that simple.
You might be upset or bummed out about something in life.
You, you sort of lost your way with God.
Your heart's become cold. You become indifferent to the
ways of the Spirit. And you just say to someone you
trust you love, hey, can you pray for me?
I got to get right with God. I got to have a new beginning
with God again. I want to be refreshed with the
Lord again. I want to sense his presence in
my life as I did when I first met Jesus.
Amen. And God can do that.
He's the God of new beginnings, a new beginning every day, an
opportunity community to have the Lord cause our hearts to be
alive again in our faith and our relationship with the Lord.
And so when Simon saw that through the laying on of the
apostles hands the Holy Spirit was given, He offered him money.
Isn't that crazy saying give me this power also that anyone on
whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit?
So this guy's used to having a sorcery business.
This is a whole new like development of building his
business. I never had this kind of angle.
So I'll give you guys some money to show me how to do this.
Well, first of all, you can't show anybody how to do it.
It's the work of the spirit of, of this work of supernatural
gifting. So this guy's clueless, you
know, he just doesn't get it. But of course, new believer is
what he's thinking. Peter says to him, your money
perish with you because you thought that the gift of God
could be purchased with money. You have neither part nor
portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight
of God. Boy, that's a calling out, huh?
What a rebuke, man, You're messed up.
You got it all wrong here. You know your attitude, your
your methodology, your way of wanting to to be used by God is,
is manipulative. It's not coming from the Spirit
and your heart isn't right in the sight of God.
You know, sometimes you, you don't realize about your heart
how it cannot at times always be right with God.
The Holy Spirit's given to us is speak to us when our heart isn't
right with God. He speaks to me all the time and
I'm sure he does to you. That's an attitude of pride,
that's an attitude of hardness of heart.
That's an attitude of unforgiveness or that's an
attitude of lack of faith, right?
He talks to you about all kind of stuff and when he talks to
you, He wants you to have your heart right again, right?
And maybe today God wants to get some hearts right with him.
I don't know what you're thinking or what's happening in
your life, your family. Are you impeding the move of God
in your family because your heart isn't right with God?
Some people stop going to church because their heart isn't right
with God. Some people stop reading their
Bible because their heart isn't right with God.
Some people stop praying because their heart isn't right with
God. Have you ever tried to pray when
your heart isn't right with God? Have you ever tried to open your
Bible when your heart isn't right with God?
Nothing going to happen, right? You just don't want to do it.
You know, down deep inside you should, but there's something
blocking you from doing what it is that the Lord wants.
And then all we simply need to do is say, Lord, my heart isn't
right with you. Forgive me.
I repent, soften my heart. I like David's prayer.
Lord, search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts. Give God a chance and see if
there's any wicked way in and leave me in the way everlasting.
Then he says in another Psalm, Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O
Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
I mean, I don't want my heart to be like ugly before my Savior.
I mean that that's bad because it, it quenches the Holy Spirit,
it grieves the Holy Spirit. And our lives are designed by
God after we become Christians to be a blessing to one another,
not a curse to one another, not a heartache to one another, not
a hurting of one another, not being so caught up in the world
and the things that the world has to offer that we have put
Christ on the back shelf and we're just living our lives for
our own selfish ambition. Lord help us all right.
And the Bible teaches us and God's the one that creates in us
a clean heart. David's heart was messed up
after he committed adultery with Bathsheba.
After he had Uriah killed in battle.
He went through a real dry period for a little over a year
until he was confronted with his sin.
In Psalm 51 he writes, God created me a clean heart.
This is after his sin, getting right with God.
Renew a steadfast spirit within me, a stable spirit.
Then I'll teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be
converted unto you. We can't even begin to do any
kind of ministry in each other's lives, let alone the lost, if
our hearts aren't right with God.
And I really believe in these days that we live God's calling
us to get our hearts right with Him.
Our problem in our world today isn't the left.
It isn't all these movements that have been raised up
recently to create havoc in the streets.
What God's interested in the Bible says, God's looking to and
fro throughout the whole earth to find one whose heart is
perfect toward Him. If he can find one person whose
heart is right with him, he can use that person to turn the
world upside down. He can use you wherever you are
and the group you're with, the family you're with, the kids,
you have the jobs. You have to be a light in the
midst of Pagan darkness, not a holier than thou kind of
attitude. This looks like a compassion.
You need Jesus and he's the only answer.
He's the only one we can save your life and save your soul.
So Peter's exhorting him. You have neither part nor
portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight
of God. Repent therefore of this your
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your
heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned
by bitterness and bound by iniquity.
Have you ever been poisoned by bitterness?
Do you have an unforgiveness towards someone?
You have a judgement every time you see someone, you just like
hate him down deep inside. You don't respect him, you don't
like him, you don't love him. You just have attitude about
them all the time. That's bitterness.
That's the root of bitterness and that's not what God wants in
our lives. It poisons us and then we're
controlled by the sin that that bitterness will begin to
develop. Simon answered and said, Pray to
the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken
may come upon me. So he's looking to Peter as an
apostle, a man used by God. Peter, can you pray for me?
But probably more importantly, he needed to pray for himself,
right? You don't need to go through an
intercessor other than Jesus to get your heart right with God or
to have your sins forgiven. The Bible never teaches that.
The only way you and I can get right with God is if we go to
someone else and get them to pray for us.
I mean, it's nice to have people pray for us and we need it, but
you need to go to God personally.
I need to go to God personally and say, Lord, this attitude is
ungodly and it's got to stop. And I ask you to forgive me
Lord, and to change my attitude, to change my vision, change my
heart. And isn't awesome.
He does. And husband and wife
relationships. We can have conflict and we do
all the time. The only way marriages stay
together is by humility and forgiveness and praying for each
other. No marriage can stand the test
of time if there's bitterness. A matter of fact, bitterness in
a life destroys many. The Bible says no.
Be careful with this in the church setting.
If a root of bitterness springs up among one person in the body,
it can be like a cancer and then begin to defile many and stumble
and 'cause people to become self-righteous and judgmental
and critical of each other. I love the the portion of
scripture where the public and went into the temple with the
Pharisee, the Pharisees, the self-righteous religious person
thinks he does everything right, goes in and he's condescending
to the to the center beside him. He's thinking like, why are you
even in this building, this temple, the synagogue, you, you,
you don't have any right to be in here.
You're unclean or whatever. He's like, you know, just
putting this guy down in his heart.
He's bragging about how he gives and how he does this and does
that and and he's proud. He's standing there before a
gracious holy God who is merciful and he's trying to
impress God by what he says. Meanwhile, his heart is really
not what God would require or desire.
And yet the Sinner beside him, he didn't even have the ability
to look his head up and gaze up into the heavens.
He just struck his chest and he said, Lord, be merciful to me,
Sinner. You know what Jesus said, That
man went out forgiven. The other one didn't.
So we need to be constantly aware of the fact that we're
fallen. None of us are perfect.
We're all works in process. We're learning to follow the
Lord deeper. We're learning to obey Him more
seriously. This just doesn't happen
overnight. It's a process of growing in the
grace and the knowledge of God. I've been a pastor now 26 years
and sometimes I feel like I'm just starting, you know, and
keep learning the same things over and over and over again.
The basic foundations, the fundamentals, being filled with
the spirit. That's, that's a good thing
right now. How much in life do we try to do
life on our own strength? Think about it.
Maybe you have a tape recorder. Well, Lord has a tape recorder.
He knows every thought, every word.
You know, we're going to give an account of a someday the Bible
says. But you know, Lord, how many
times did I ask you to fill me with your spirit last month?
Wouldn't it be shocking if he said, well, like I think I can
see there was 3 * 3 times in a month that you physically,
emotionally, mentally, psychologically ask God to fill
you with His spirit. That's like the epitome of
arrogance. I can live life by myself and I
don't really need the Spirit unless I'm really in a jam where
Jesus says. Without me, you can do nothing.
So we're supposed to abide in the vine.
He we're the branches. He's a vine and constantly have
that life flow that comes from Jesus.
But it only comes perpetually and continually by this ever
flowing fountain of living water that dwells in US, Jesus that
can flow through us. But if I'm not asking to be
filled with the Spirit, guess who I'm filled with me, right?
And the world doesn't need me, it needs Jesus, right?
You guys don't need me, you need Jesus, you need his word.
My wife, Cindy, she doesn't need more Clark.
She needs less Clark and more Jesus, right?
My kids, my grandkids, my son-in-law is everybody I'm
connected with. You know, they need Jesus in and
through my life, and I need it in and through their lives to
me, right? It's like living water.
And boy, when that fountain's flowing and it's growing and
it's spreading and it's being poured out, we're all wonderful,
blessed recipients of what it is that the Lord has done for us.
So Simon, you know, he's, he's, he's thinking about what's
happening here and he knows that he's not in a good place.
And Scripture doesn't give a whole lot more information about
this guy, but we just trust that the Lord did deal with him and
that he got out of that background and began to learn
how to live and follow the Lord. And it ends in verse 25 and it
says, and so when they had testified and preached the word
of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel
in many villages of the Samaritans.
So I, I think of the city of Greensburg.
I, I went down, walked down to that fair yesterday and I was
amazed at the police presence. I really was.
And it was glad to see him down there.
I've been to that fair. I might see one security guard
walking around, but the police in our nation and and the
schools now I hope there's a wake up call that there's
really, and I don't want to scare anybody, but where is
there a place to go that you're completely safe anymore?
If we don't have law enforcement presence, we don't have people
watching, keeping their eyes out.
We have security in the church. We have armed security in the
church. No one's going to get in here,
God willing to cause any harm on you or me or anybody else,
right. You got it's unfortunate we have
to be that way now, but it's it's wisdom right from the Lord.
But, you know, you think about the the fear and the anxiety
that's on the planet right now and what's happening, you know,
to understand how do we get the school secured now?
One point of entry, police presence.
No way you're going to get in a door unless you are checkpoint
and metal detectors, all that kind of stuff.
I mean, this is where things are going.
I don't see it getting any better personally.
It's probably going to get more challenging.
But more than ever, we need to be people that have an outward
vision toward a world that is completely inward and doesn't
even know anything about what it is we're talking about today.
Young people that are here today, majority of your friends
that go to public school or high school or wherever you go, they
don't know anything about what it is we're talking about today.
People you work with never heard any of this stuff before.
And so we're supposed to be salt and white in the world.
And your life has an influence upon me and my life has an
influence upon you for either good or evil.
So we really need to pray. And we need to understand as a
church the importance of prayer. We have prayer Zoom.
We have prayer meetings that people want to pray.
And also the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, right?
We need fresh and filling of God's Holy Spirit.
All of us thank. You thanks for joining us on
today's edition of Living Waters of Grace, a ministry of Calvary
Chapel, Westmoreland. Today, Pastor Clark is teaching
about the book of Acts. And as we learn more about Acts,
it becomes clear that the early church didn't miss a single
opportunity to share the gospel. In nearly every chapter, you see
apostles like Peter and Paul stepping into conversations,
crowds, and crises with boldness, ready to proclaim the
name of Jesus. Their example challenges us to
consider how we might step into gospel moments in our own lives.
What doors might God open this week for you to speak truth,
offer hope, or live out your faith in a way that points
others to Him? The story of Acts reminds us we
are part of the same mission. Today, let's live with eyes open
and hearts ready to respond. We hope you are challenged by
today's message. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
area, we'd love to see you in person this Sunday at 10:30 AM
at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
For more information, visit calvarychapelonline.com.
You can also join our e-mail list, give online, or submit a
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