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 --> 00:00:12,680 Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,400 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 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,640 People who do wicked and evil things that we read about and 6 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,360 hear about aren't beyond the saving work of God. 7 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:49,840 And you think about your own life today if you are here and 8 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,400 you're a believer in Jesus Christ, He did something very 9 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,520 wonderful for you and me. He opened our eyes that were 10 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,280 blind. We were dead before the Spirit 11 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,720 of God enlightened us and made us alive in Christ. 12 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,520 So we're so fortunate to be saved if we are saved here 13 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,240 today. There's nothing you can do to 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,400 secure your own eternal life. There's nothing anyone can do. 15 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,480 But there is a way. It's through Jesus. 16 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,040 Through his sacrifice on the cross, you can be forgiven of 17 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,440 your sins and have eternal life. Today, Pastor Clark will show 18 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,680 you that no matter how far you feel from God, you can still 19 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,360 come to Him and be restored. Paul was a man who used to 20 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,000 persecute Christians, but God changed him and used him to do 21 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,040 great things for the Kingdom, just like he can with you now. 22 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,720 Here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 9 with today's edition 23 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,560 of Living Waters of Grace. Acts Chapter 9. 24 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,120 Lord God, we are grateful today for the power of your Holy 25 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,280 Spirit that's very present in this place and we all surrender 26 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:00,120 and yield to the will of the Spirit of the living God. 27 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,640 That this is the work of the Spirit, the Word of God, the 28 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:09,160 church, the ministry, the gospel, evangelism, all these 29 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:14,560 things are developed and worked by the work of the Spirit of the 30 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,680 living God. Lord, we pray the day, Father, 31 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,400 that you would touch each of our hearts in the church today 32 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:25,160 around the world to renew us, Lord, to revive us, to cause us 33 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,040 to go deeper in you. Lord, we will study about the 34 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,920 Apostle Paul before he became an apostle when he was a Pagan 35 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,320 unbeliever who hated and persecuted Christians. 36 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,080 And Father, we are a very aware of the fact that Paul wasn't 37 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:47,080 seeking you, but you sought him. And Lord, you seek each of us in 38 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,800 a specific time in our lives. You get our attention and you 39 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,720 cause us, Lord, to turn to you. Lord, we don't turn in and of 40 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,240 ourselves, Father, we. The Bible tells us there's none 41 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,720 that seeketh after God. No, not one. 42 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,160 And so Lord, we pray that you would just work and draw each of 43 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,600 us closer to you today. And we just pray you would bless 44 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,000 us as we study together in Jesus name, Amen. 45 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,160 Amen. Well, let's look in the book of 46 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:22,600 Acts, Acts Chapter 9, we're going to study about this 47 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:27,200 experience that Paul's had. It's quite amazing when you read 48 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:32,200 this because I don't remember reading about someone's 49 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,680 salvation experience like we're reading in Acts a day. 50 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,560 This isn't really happened this way to anybody else, at least 51 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,640 what I read in the Bible. What's been contained in the 52 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,800 Bible? All of you that know Christ, you 53 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,520 had an encounter with the Lord and you are believers. 54 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,280 You're following him because you had a personal encounter with 55 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,400 the living God. That's the only way you become a 56 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,800 Christian. You have to have a relationship, 57 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:03,640 an encounter with God, and that encounter is established by the 58 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,520 work of God's Spirit. None of us can take credit for 59 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,120 us coming to faith in Christ. It's the work of God. 60 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,120 He comes after us, and even as believers, He still comes after 61 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,800 us. He's he's pursuing us to to walk 62 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:23,800 closer with him to have a deeper relationship with Him and the 63 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,280 things you're challenged by in life, the things you're 64 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:30,640 convicted by the Holy Spirit in your life in regard to walking 65 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,720 closer with the Lord or being more obedient or being more pure 66 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,920 purified we find is a continual work of the Spirit until we 67 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:43,080 leave this earth. God's always working in us that 68 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,320 he might work through us. And many of the things that we 69 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,520 learn, we unfortunately many times have to learn various 70 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,440 times over and over again. We have a tendency sometimes to 71 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:59,320 make the same mistakes or sometimes fall into the same 72 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,360 patterns of sin. This is the legacy of of the 73 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,880 believer of learning how to be sanctified, how to walk with 74 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,720 God. None of us are perfect yet, but 75 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,600 we are being perfected by the work of the Holy Spirit. 76 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,360 And that's what God uses his word for. 77 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,960 He changes our hearts. He changes our minds, our way of 78 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,120 thinking. So we begin to think the way God 79 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,880 thinks and not thinking the way the world would think in the 80 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,080 fallen nature, like you think of people, you know, you'll say, 81 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:31,880 oh, that person will never get saved. 82 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,320 They're so evil. They're so wicked. 83 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,000 That person's beyond salvation. No one's beyond salvation. 84 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:42,840 The politicians aren't beyond God's saving hand. 85 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,120 People who do wicked and evil things that we read about and 86 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,800 hear about aren't beyond the saving work of God. 87 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:56,280 And you think about your own life today. 88 00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:59,800 If you are here and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, He did 89 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,640 something very wonderful for you and me. 90 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,480 He opened our eyes that were blind. 91 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:10,720 We were dead before the Spirit of God enlightened us and made 92 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:15,320 us alive in Christ. So we're so fortunate to be 93 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,160 saved. If we are saved here today. 94 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,840 It's his goodness, it's his grace, it's his mercy. 95 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,240 We didn't do anything. We didn't earn our way, we 96 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,640 didn't pay our way. There was nothing we could do 97 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:32,480 but ask God for mercy. And he gave us mercy. 98 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,760 So we read about Saul of Tarsus, and we read in the previous 99 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:44,800 chapter how he was responsible for having Stephen martyred in 100 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,720 stone. Saul was a member of the 101 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:54,080 Sanhedrin, he was a Pharisee, he was a very zealous Jew. 102 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,520 He was so zealous that his whole focus was to persecute 103 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,160 Christians. He thought Christianity was a 104 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,240 sect, a false religion. He didn't believe in a literal 105 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,240 resurrection of Jesus Christ, even though he probably heard 106 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,360 Jesus teaching. He was probably one of the men 107 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:14,240 in the Sanhedrin that was going to, you know, persecute Jesus 108 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,400 and have him crucified. He was obviously the one who was 109 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:23,000 there when Stephen was stoned. And so he had no interest in in 110 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,560 Christianity. He was really believing that he 111 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,240 was serving God by trying to stamp out the faith of 112 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:37,760 Christianity. Paul grew up as a man or young 113 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,720 man who was exposed to Grecian culture. 114 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,920 So his his parents were Pharisees and they were Hebrews 115 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,880 and the Jews were broken into two groups, the Hebrews and the 116 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,120 Hellenists. The Hellenists were those who 117 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,640 were impacted by Greek culture. So Paul had sort of both 118 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,280 understandings of legalism and then arts and that kind of stuff 119 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,160 from the Greek theater at the time. 120 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:06,480 And as a result of that, he was primed, if you may, by God to 121 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,520 have a background that would be able to take the gospel to the 122 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:13,480 Jew, to the Gentile and also speak before kings. 123 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,080 Interesting fact about being a member of the Sanhedrin. 124 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,600 You had to be married to be part of the Sanhedrin. 125 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,320 So somehow Paul was married at one time. 126 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:25,200 There's nothing in the Scriptures that give us any 127 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,360 indication of where his wife went or what happened. 128 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,520 Did she die? Did she leave him when he became 129 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,880 a Christian? Tradition says he had two sons, 130 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,919 One went with him and one went with his wife. 131 00:08:36,919 --> 00:08:39,919 But we can't document that because that's not in Scripture. 132 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:43,440 But this a lot of fascinating background with this guy. 133 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,920 He had an attorney mind. He was an attorney kind of guy. 134 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,000 He he understood law to the NTH degree. 135 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,520 And so this is a day he's heading up towards Damascus to 136 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,800 persecute Christians. His he got report from the 137 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:05,640 authorities that he was authorized to go up representing 138 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,840 the authorities at that time to deal with those of the way that 139 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:13,680 was what was Christian Christianity was called the way. 140 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:15,000 So we'll pick it up in verse one. 141 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:18,880 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the 142 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,480 disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked 143 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,280 letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that 144 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,880 if he found any who were of the way. 145 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,800 And again, that's what Christianity was called WAY, 146 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,720 capital WAY. Jesus said I am the way, I am 147 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,600 the truth, I am the life. No man comes of the Father but 148 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:40,240 through me. So that's how they came up with 149 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,640 this, following the way, Jesus being the way, and they were 150 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,120 called the sect of the way, whether men or women, he might 151 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,280 bring them bound to Jerusalem. And so as he journeyed, he came 152 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,720 near Damascus. So his whole focus on this trip 153 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:59,400 up to Damascus, which was about a six day journey about 130 154 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:03,440 miles northeast of Jerusalem, he's going up with a specific 155 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,480 intention to get people and pull them out of their homes and the 156 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,760 synagogues and bring them into Jerusalem to be eventually put 157 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:15,040 in prison or to be martyred. That was his whole focus. 158 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,040 There was probably about 70 synagogues in Damascus. 159 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:22,800 And what was interesting was there was so many people, Jewish 160 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:26,720 people becoming believers that it was from the point of view of 161 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,760 the Pharisees in the Jewish system. 162 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:33,120 It was getting out of control. And so he's journeying up there 163 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,080 to, to do this work of persecution. 164 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:40,760 Suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 165 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:47,200 This light, it wasn't the sun, it was the the light of of God's 166 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:52,640 presence, the Shekinah glory, the light that was represented 167 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,960 as God moved by the pillar of fire, by night in the cloud, by 168 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,560 day as the Tabernacle move through the wilderness. 169 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:04,920 The kind of light that Moses experienced when the Bush was on 170 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,960 fire. These are what would you call 171 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,480 supernatural epiphanies that have occurred throughout the 172 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,880 history of the Bible where God would show up in his glory. 173 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,800 Jesus represented that at the Transfiguration where he was 174 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,000 full of light. And Peter, James, and John 175 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,480 experienced that light. It blew them away. 176 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:31,520 And that's when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mount 177 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:33,600 of Transfiguration. So they saw him in his 178 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,040 transfigured state, his glorified state. 179 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:41,080 And so now Paul is encountering Christ in this light. 180 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,360 And the only way anybody could be an apostle, a true apostle, 181 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,400 they had to be eyewitness account of knowing Jesus 182 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,680 physically and personally. So this is what's occurring 183 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:54,600 right now. This light shines around him 184 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:56,920 from heaven. Then he fell to the ground. 185 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,080 So he's walking with his entourage to to deal with 186 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,600 persecuting Christians. This light shining around him 187 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,280 and he falls to the ground. The light was so 188 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,400 all-encompassing that it had to put fear in him. 189 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,040 And the first thing he thought about, I got to get to get down 190 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:18,320 and get some cover here. And as he fell to the ground, he 191 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:22,000 heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you 192 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,640 persecuting me? So when there's persecution that 193 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,680 happens against Christians or the church or in the world 194 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,240 regarding people who are following the Lord, the 195 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,360 persecution is at Jesus, not you and me. 196 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,440 We might think we're being held out to dry because we follow the 197 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,200 Lord and we represent him or whatever. 198 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:46,360 It's never about us. All this persecution is always 199 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,280 targeted at Jesus Christ. And so he specifically says to 200 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:52,480 Paul, hey, why? He didn't say, why are you 201 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,280 hassling my followers? And he's saying you're 202 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,360 persecuting me. This is personal between Saul 203 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:03,720 and between Jesus. And he said, who are you, Lord? 204 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,000 And that's a great question to ask. 205 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,160 I think that's one of the first questions that any of us should 206 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,520 ask. And whenever God's dealing with 207 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:16,160 your life and he's got you in a situation of conflict or crisis 208 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,760 or tragedy or difficulty and things are going wrong in life, 209 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,360 and you begin to know that somehow there's this creator God 210 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,600 that's dealing with you personally. 211 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,960 You don't know anything about him until you're born again, 212 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,080 until you come to faith in Jesus Christ. 213 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:34,120 She might be religious like Paul was. 214 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:36,920 Paul knew how to pray, but he never prayed from his heart. 215 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,240 He prayed written prayers of Judaism. 216 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,400 He followed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 217 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,480 Who is this God, the Lord Jesus Christ. 218 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,280 But he wasn't Privy to the understanding that Jesus was the 219 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:51,480 Messiah. So he's asking a a very good 220 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,160 question. Who are you, Lord? 221 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:58,280 And then the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 222 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,160 It is hard for you to kick against the goads that may or 223 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,600 may not be in your translation. But these goads were long 224 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:10,360 prodding sticks that were used by the people that were farming 225 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,520 with ox to keep the ox under control. 226 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:18,960 And now Paul, this this goading, he's being convicted the the 227 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,640 preparation of Paul's heart in regard to this encounter with 228 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,560 the Lord had to be impacted by what he observed whenever 229 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:31,480 Stephen was stoned and heard the things that Stephen said and saw 230 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:36,120 the glow and the shine of the Lord God on the countenance of 231 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,200 of of Stephen, as he was saying, hold us not to their charge, 232 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:44,480 this crime of, of martyring me, the first martyr of the church, 233 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,480 Stephen. So all this influence, all these 234 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,960 past experiences had a point from God's perspective and 235 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,440 waking Paul up, bringing him out of death into life. 236 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:02,120 Everyone of you in your lives have encounter with God, whether 237 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:05,440 you realize it or not. And many times you'll say, well, 238 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,760 why is this happening to me, God or why is why is this going on 239 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,840 or this isn't fair. You don't even know God yet 240 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,280 maybe, and you're talking to him because you know, down deep 241 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,040 inside in the conscience, the Bible says everyone knows 242 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,800 there's a Creator and we're all accountable to him. 243 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:26,000 And so he's interacting with this Creator who's manifests 244 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,880 before him now, and we also interact with this Creator in 245 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:34,760 regard to daily living. I know when the Spirit of God is 246 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:38,720 dealing with me about something specifically that I need to 247 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,160 confront or deal with in my own life personally, and I'm sure 248 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,080 you do too. We don't get away with anything. 249 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,840 God sees it all, He knows it all. 250 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:53,240 And God's whole goal in creating this world and creating us was 251 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,320 to make a people that would follow after Him. 252 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,960 But He gave us a free will to follow our own will, which most 253 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:03,120 of us do, don't we, until we encounter God. 254 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:08,200 And so this is what's beginning to happen to Saul. 255 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,800 And the Lord is beginning to speak to him in verse 6. 256 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,120 So he is a Saul. He's trembling and he's 257 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,000 astonished. And he simply says, Lord, what 258 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,320 do you want me to do? Boy, that's that's powerful, 259 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,360 isn't it? Not asking any more questions. 260 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:32,640 It's so obvious who he's dealing with and he humbles himself. 261 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,960 He's being humbled. And what do you want me to do? 262 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:42,440 And the Lord says to him, arise and go into the city and you 263 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:46,800 will be told what you must do. So the Lord gives us steps to 264 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,080 take. He doesn't tell you or me like 265 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,440 the big picture of what our life's going to look like from 266 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,640 the from the day we're born to the day we die or the day we 267 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,760 become believers and how our lives will begin to change from 268 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,520 that point on. He doesn't show us all that. 269 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:06,280 He just gives us one step at a time and he tells Paul, get up 270 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,640 and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. 271 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:13,400 So in verse 7, the men who journeyed with him stood 272 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:15,640 speechless. So these guys are used to Paul 273 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,960 being in control and having it all together and has an agenda 274 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,240 and a plan. They're looking at all this 275 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,520 right now and they don't understand what's going on. 276 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:26,880 They don't even know what to say. 277 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,480 They hear this voice, but they can't understand the words that 278 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,680 are being said. Only Paul is getting the 279 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:35,840 message. They just know something 280 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,640 supernatural is happening, but they don't hear the voice of God 281 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:41,360 and the words that Paul heard it. 282 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,440 They just happen to observe what's happening, and so they 283 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,840 hear this voice, but they, they, they don't see anyone. 284 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,880 Then Saul rose from the ground, and when his eyes were open, he 285 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,800 saw no one. So Paul is blind spiritually, as 286 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,440 we all are until our eyes are open by Christ. 287 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:05,360 But now he's blind physically. Why would this happen? 288 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,280 Well, this is the plan of God. He gets up. 289 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,000 He doesn't have any human ability right now. 290 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,320 All his faculties basically have been eradicated. 291 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:22,840 His pride, his ego, his ability to be in control, his focus, his 292 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:28,320 vision, his plan. Totally kibosh non existent now 293 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:31,840 he's like a little kid basically. 294 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,720 He he needs help. He can't even see where he's 295 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,160 gone. He has to be led by these people 296 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,360 who are with him on this journey to to go persecute Christians. 297 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,560 He sees no one when his eyes are open. 298 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:50,000 So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and he 299 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,880 was three days without sight. He neither ate nor drank. 300 00:18:55,520 --> 00:19:00,800 So this is a force fast. He's fasting and he's praying. 301 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,520 He's waiting to hear what is next. 302 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,680 Three days. It's a long time to not eat, to 303 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,600 not drink, and not to speak with anyone. 304 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:20,360 He's on the receiving end of, of hearing God downloading into his 305 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:23,440 heart, into his spirit, the things of the Kingdom. 306 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,800 It would be fascinating to to know all the details of what he 307 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,120 was experienced at that time. And he talks about them later on 308 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:33,920 in some of the epistles that he wrote down the road. 309 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,920 But nonetheless, he's bankrupt of human ability at this point 310 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,360 in time. Now in verse 10, it tells us 311 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:47,880 another interesting story here. There was a certain disciple at 312 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:53,920 Damascus named Ananias. That word means gracious. 1 and 313 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,280 to him the Lord said in a vision, Ananias. 314 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,720 So Ananias is a just down to earth human being like we are 315 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:05,800 called a disciple, Christian follower of the way doesn't give 316 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,560 a whole lot of detail what he was up to, what he did, but he 317 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:13,920 was a summon that God chose to be used in the Apostle Paul's 318 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,520 life. God uses you and me in people's 319 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,880 lives, one person at a time. Matter of fact, the most 320 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,520 powerful things that happened in our lives as Christians happened 321 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,080 one-on-one with someone else, one-on-one with God first and 322 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:34,360 then one-on-one with us and someone else that wants to know 323 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,960 something about what it is we know. 324 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,160 And we get a chance to tell them about Jesus and about what 325 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,760 happened to us. Ananias had a vision, and in 326 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,640 Book of Acts it talks about visions, and people still have 327 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,400 visions. It's hard to discern if a vision 328 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,520 is truly from God or is from having too much pizza the night 329 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,720 before, right? A dream, a vision, whatever it 330 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,800 might be. But whenever a vision is given 331 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,800 by God, the purpose of that vision will come to pass in 332 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,600 time. This vision was very specific. 333 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,240 He said, When he's having this vision, here I am the Lord. 334 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,920 And the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called 335 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,160 straight. And there is a street called 336 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,800 Straight in Damascus to this day. 337 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,680 And he said, go to this street called Straight and inquire at 338 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:34,360 the House of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for 339 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,800 behold, he is praying. Isn't this amazing? 340 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,280 I mean, he's getting specific, detailed information. 341 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,480 God doesn't give us vagueness when He's leading us. 342 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:50,160 He's very specific about what it is He wants us to do, and it's 343 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,240 all through the Scripture. You don't have to be a genius to 344 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,840 understand when when the Bible says husbands love your wives 345 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:02,040 like Christ loves the church. That is a direct communication 346 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:06,160 from God to you about how you're supposed to live in your home 347 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,160 with your wife. You don't have to make it 348 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,400 complicated. You're either learning to do 349 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,240 that or you're not doing it. But God in His Word is very 350 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,080 specific from Genesis to the end of Revelation as to what His 351 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,520 will is for us as believers and how to live for the Kingdom of 352 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,720 God. And He's telling Ananias, this 353 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,800 is what you're going to do. This is where you're going to 354 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,240 go. This is the house you're going 355 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,040 to go. This is the person you're going 356 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,680 to speak to. And I love what it says here. 357 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,360 You're going to get down there and behold, he is praying. 358 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,200 So God sees Paul, He sees he sees Saul at this time. 359 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,960 He's not called Paul yet. And he sees you and me when 360 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,760 we're praying. He sees us when we're alone with 361 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,840 him, when we're waiting upon him, when we're crying out to 362 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,800 him, when we're seeking to know of him or to hear about him. 363 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,640 He's always present. God is never absent from any of 364 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,000 our lives. God is omnipresent. 365 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:06,000 He's able to be present everywhere at the same time, in 366 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,720 every human being's life. That in, in and of itself should 367 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,280 blow our minds of how great our God is. 368 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:17,760 He's always there, present. He sees what we're up to. 369 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,200 He knows our thoughts. He knows our fears. 370 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,080 He knows our anxieties. He knows our dreams, our hopes, 371 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,680 our vision, our purpose, our desires. 372 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,920 He sees it all. And He sees specifically right 373 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,800 now this man he's dealing with named Saul, that he's praying 374 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,840 and he's hearing the prayer. And in a vision, he has seen a 375 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:41,040 man named Ananias coming and putting his hand on him so that 376 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,880 he might receive his sight. So this is really something, not 377 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:48,200 only is God like giving Ananias the details, but he's saying I 378 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,200 already told Paul that you're on your way and you're going to lay 379 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,960 hands on him and he's going to be able to see again physically. 380 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:00,360 Thank you for listening to this edition of Living Waters of 381 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,560 Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching us 382 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,800 about the book of Acts in this series. 383 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:08,440 Acts is a powerful and unique part of Scripture, not just 384 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,240 because it records the spread of the gospel geographically from 385 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,400 Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but also culturally. 386 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,080 Acts shows us how the message of Jesus moved beyond its Jewish 387 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,720 roots and began to reach the Gentile world. 388 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,360 What started with Peter leading a small group in the Upper Room 389 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:30,200 became a global movement with Paul taking the gospel to 390 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,440 cities, synagogues and marketplaces across the Roman 391 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,360 Empire. Acts captures this vital 392 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:41,160 transition and reminds us that the good news of Jesus is for 393 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,080 all people in every place. May we be inspired to carry that 394 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,400 same gospel boldly into our world today. 395 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,120 Living Waters of Grace comes to you from Calvary Chapel, 396 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,120 Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 397 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:01,040 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 398 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,120 Pray about helping support the new station that will reach 399 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,400 thousands more listeners. Send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 400 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:18,400 716, Greensburg, PA 15601 also invite you to join us in person 401 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:23,240 this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 402 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,720 Unit 6B. To stay up to date, visit 403 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,560 calvarychapelonline.com where you can find our teaching 404 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,720 archive, submit prayer requests, join our e-mail list, or give 405 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,360 online. If you're outside the area, 406 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,280 don't worry, you can still worship with us through the 407 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,080 Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel. 408 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,400 Be sure to subscribe so you won't miss new content. 409 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,040 We're so thankful that you joined us today. 410 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,600 Be sure to tune into the next edition of Living Waters of 411 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:53,120 Grace.