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.
This church was a very strong serving church.
They served one another. They were steadfast.
That meant that they endured under trial.
We know that John said in the ninth verse of the 1st chapter
that he was their companion in the tribulation.
Not the great tribulation yet, but there was persecution and
trials happening in the church at that time.
But they weren't giving up this this church in Ephesus.
They were very sacrificial and how they used their ministry and
their offerings. The theologian Henry Beecher
said in this world it is not what we take up, but what we
give up that makes us rich. This reflection on service and
sacrifice for the Lord stands in stark contrast to the attitude
of the world around us. Where the world says get, the
Bible says give. Where people say mine, Scripture
says that all things belong to God.
In today's message, Pastor Clark presents us with a reminder that
we, the church, are called to love and serve one another.
As an example of what Christ has done for us now, here's Pastor
Clark in the Book of Revelation chapter 2 with today's edition
of Living Waters of Grace. As the Lord looks at the church,
he's looking for a church that has certain ingredients in that
reflect his nature and who he is.
And so he begins to write to this church in Ephesus and he
says some positive things about in the beginning, he says these
things, says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand,
who walks in the midst of 7 golden lamp lamp stands.
I know your works, your labor, your patience that you cannot
bear those who are evil. You've tested those who say
there are apostles and not and have found them liars.
And you've persevered and have patience and have labored in my
name's sake and have not become weary.
So he's making some real positive statements here.
The Lord knows the works of this church.
What they're doing is right. It's good, it's solid.
It's it's it's important, it's biblical.
And he's complimenting for them for that, that they have
patience, that they're waiting on his leading and they're not
going out doing things in their own strength.
They're also very, very sound biblically and doctrinally.
They don't put up with those who are evil and they test those who
claim to have certain spiritual gifts or callings and prove that
these people aren't telling the truth, but that they're liars
and they're persevering. This is a time of tribulation
and persecution in the modern church world.
When this was written in Ephesus, Ephesus, Ephesus today
is nothing but rubble. Basically, from the standpoint
of historical Christianity, there isn't a strong presence in
Ephesus for the the gospel of Christ like there was in the
beginning here. And as we look at the church
today, these churches that are represented in Revelation are
symbols of modern day churches as well.
These were actual churches back then that existed that he's
speaking to. But today, as you, as you study
this book together with me, take some notes and think about, OK,
Lord, what's Calvary Chapel in Greensburg like?
When we look at the list of the churches, what things are we
known for? What things are happening here
that are reflecting an approval from the Lord and how He sees
His church and how He wants it to be?
This church was a very strong serving church.
They served one another. They were steadfast.
That meant that they endured under trial.
We know that John said in the ninth verse of the 1st chapter
that he was their companion in the tribulation.
Not the great tribulation yet, but there was persecution and
trials happening in the church at that time.
But they weren't giving up this, this church in Ephesus.
They were very sacrificial and how they use their ministry and
their offerings and their focus was helping those who have never
heard the gospel. We know in Acts chapter 20 that
Paul talked about this church when he referenced the fact that
after I leave, ravenous wolves will come in from the outside
and also among you and try to divide the flock and destroy the
the work of God. And many times when the term is
used, ravenous wolves, this isn't people who are false
believers or people who are outside of Christ.
Many times people in churches have egos and they argue about
the stupidest things. They fight about things that
aren't important, like carpeting and, you know, altars or organs
or stained glass. I mean, it's a big deal.
You know, say we had to get a new carpet here.
Some churches fight like what color the carpets going to be
and if 30% of the women went blue and 40% went red and the
rest don't care and you get the red in there, sometimes 30% of
the people leave because of the color of carpet.
I mean, we've had people in this church leave for like reasons
that don't make sense. I like what RC Sproul said years
ago and it stuck with me. He said there's three reasons
you leave a church. 1 Heresy, two, sexual immorality and
financial impropriety, and three, false doctrine.
Those are the only three reasons you leave a church.
You don't leave a church because someone was rude to you, or they
didn't smile or say hi or shake your hand, or the sermon was
boring. You leave for biblical reasons,
OK. And the problem in the modern
day church is that Protestants, the word Protestant means
protest. So if we don't like what's going
on in such and such a church, we protest and we leave and we
start another church, right? That's why there's like 20,000
different Protestant denominations today.
There is only one church. And one day that church will be
clearly defined. When Christ comes back and sets
his Kingdom up, we'll be at his feet and he'll say this is
church one church no more 3. Down this way 4.
Down this way five over here 1 church with him being the head
and all of us at his feet, but I guarantee that that church that
Christ comes back and shepherds will be characteristic of some
of the things that is being pointed out here by the Lord
himself to the apostle John. These people toiled without
feigning. I think of what it means to plan
a church, and we're still in the church planning stages right
now. We look at everybody on the list
that comes here pretty consistently.
We have about 143 people. That's kids and adults.
I mean, that's amazing compared to where this church was three
years ago. And it's just incredible what
kind of people God sending in here to this church.
The people that are coming are mature.
They know the Word, they are interested in getting deeper in
the Word, but they're also interested in participating in
the ministry. As Rick alluded to.
Where can I serve, Where can I be used?
What can I do? How can I share my gifts, my
skills, my abilities, my talents?
And that's the mark of a healthy church.
It says in Ephesians 4. When every part does its part,
it makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself
together in love. And so the church is a body of
believers. Christ is a senior pastor, I'm
an assistant. Howard's an assistant, Rick's an
assistant. But Christ is the head and we're
all at his feet and there's nobody here but him.
We're all the same, at the same level, but different calls and
callings and different abilities and different skills and gifts.
But whenever you do what it is that God's called you to do in
this church, all the sudden the church becomes healthy.
It's not dependent upon Clark anymore or Rick or a couple
people that seem maybe in the outward to do a lot of stuff.
It's everybody that comes here, from the youngest kid to the
oldest person. I mean, the young kids have a
ministry here whenever parents come in and they see a nursery
that's well equipped and, and clean and, and people that know
what they're doing in Sunday school classes that are loving
teachers and sound Bible teaching and clean and
organizing women's studies and men's studies.
You know, they, people come in and, and they see all the parts
of the body working together, someone outside shoveling and,
and someone, you know, helping with the Lord's Supper running
sound. They're running, you know,
singing and worship. And, and, and this sometimes a
part in the body is a, someone that comes in that's new, that
you go up to him and say, Hey, I'm glad you're here.
It's, it's nice to see you. What's your name?
You might be the only person that Sunday that has a chance to
connect with someone else. And that's the body of Christ.
That's the love that's being manifest in the, in the midst of
the church. And so how does a church grow?
And I'm not talking numerically, of course, God does grow
churches numerically. But what's the purpose of the
church growing numerically? It isn't to be a big church.
The purpose is that people were being called to do ministry,
right? They're coming to the church to
not sit in a Pew, but to say, what is it that I can do?
How can I serve? How can I help?
What's what's my gift? Like this fellow that's moving
in from Idaho, He told me, Clark, I can help.
I like to do evangelism. And he says I'm an I'm an usher.
And you know, he just has a heart to serve his his son's 16.
He says, boy, I hope he can maybe, you know, be involved
helping in a worship. I said, sure, he can.
He can talk to Rick. And you know, there's no rules
here that you have to jump through 30 hoops before you can
serve the Lord. You have to be born again.
You have to love the Lord and love people and be walking with
him and God will use you right. It's real simple, but that's the
focus of of of a healthy church. And so these people also told
without feigning and that means working in spite of seeing
results. This keep showing up, keep doing
what it is that God tells you to do.
And God's the one that brings the harvest in his time.
They also had this sacrificial heart and I think of as a small
church, how you guys give of your time and how you give
financially. It's a blessing.
We never have to beg for money. We never have to push about
money. The Holy Spirit is the one that
puts it on your heart what it is that you're to give.
And that's between you and the Lord.
And it's a wonderful thing to be able to give freely without
condemnation or without guilt. And as we know we can't ever out
give God. I mean, I challenge my own heart
as the Lord prospers me. I always want to advance what it
is I personally sacrifice before the Lord.
And sometimes we all can think, well, if I didn't give as much
as I gave to the church, I could be driving a new car.
You ever think that the payment I could be using for.
I mean, that's ridiculous. Don't think that way, but our
flesh sometimes sinks that way. It's just normal for all of us
because we're still human. But it's cool to be content with
what we have live within our means, actually live under our
means. My dad taught me that many years
ago. He was a president of a company.
And one of the big shots from this chairman of the board said,
well, Clark, how many acres do you have?
And my dad says I got a probably about 1/4 of an acre.
And they expected my dad, because of the position he was
in, to have a big mansion and all that.
My dad lived in a very modest home.
He turned down the company limousine.
He drove a Ford Pinto station wagon.
He didn't park in the director for the president and he parked
somewhere else. It's just my dad set that
temperament for my brother and I as an example.
He was a very, very sacrificial, humble man.
And what he did with his resources and finances was
always for the sake of helping other people and never consumed
with himself. That's an amazing individual.
But anyway, Ephesus, this is the kind of church they have.
They are, but it says in verse 4, then the accusation comes in
spite of all the good things they're doing.
He says, I have this one thing against you.
You've left your first love as a pastor.
I have to continually keep myself in the love of God.
I'm like you guys, I got a wife, I got children, I got
grandchildren, I got son in laws, I got a job, I got all
kind of things that my mind can get focused on.
And those are all good things to be focused on, but sometimes I
can allow things in everyday life to take my focus off of my
relationship with the Lord. You know what I mean?
If I don't start my day with the Lord and walk with the Lord
through that day and end my day with the Lord, my heart will not
be full of this first love. My relationship with Cindy, 38
years of marriage. There was years, I have to admit
to you people, that I was not loving her the way Christ told
me. I'm to love His church the way
He loves His church. And so I was inadequate in the
sense of my emotional connection with my wife.
I was there. I showed up, I paid the bills, I
did whatever her husband's supposed to do, but I was not
connecting with her needs as a woman in the sense of her
emotional needs. And so the reason I wasn't, I
was focused on my job and my career and my success and my
golf clubs and my time and this and that and my Ford Thunderbird
or whatever. And, and I sacrificed some years
that I look back on. I say, Lord, it's only your
mercy that you kept us together all these years.
But God was merciful. He broke me and he humbled me
and he gave me an amazing woman that stood beside me and never
gave up on me. And so 38 years I can say to you
guys today, honestly, I love Cindy today more than I love her
when I first met her. She is an amazing woman.
I I never tire of looking at her face when I wake up in the
morning. I never look at her and say why
did I end up with her. Now she might say that about me,
especially now with my scar now, but but you know, that's a work
of God's Spirit. It's a work of his grace and and
and it's nothing I've done, but it's as I've yielded myself to
the Lord and won his will, not mine.
He restores to me the joy of my salvation and to you too.
And so the the but I have to work on my relationship with
Cindy. When she asked me things and
says things, I got to listen and I got to say, OK God, how am I
to respond here? Sometimes I have to admit she
still drives me crazy. I said I know I drive her crazy
at times too, but that's just two people that are different
living together in the same house, being married.
We're still different even after 30, but there's so many things
that we're a lot alike. When she fell and broke her
shoulder, the Bible says the two shall become one flesh.
I noticed the next day my shoulder was hurting.
It's really bizarre. And then one day I'm like on a
business trip and I running out of Panera Bread because I forgot
my wallet and I'm wearing these clogged shoes and I was running
faster and the shoes stayed with me.
All of a sudden I knew I was falling and I started going like
this man. I banged my hand and thank God I
didn't break anything. And I called her later and told
her what happened. She was man, my arm, my hand was
hurting today. I mean, this, it's just weird
how you know that there is this element of this, this one that
we have in this relationship. But I look at that love with my
wife life and it's parallel to how my relationship needs to be
with the Lord. If my love with Christ is where
it needs to be, I guarantee my love with Cindy will be where it
needs to be. But if my love with Christ isn't
where it needs to be, I'm not going to be able to be what it
is she needs me to be as her husband because Christ is not
the center of my life. And so every day as a husband,
as a father, the grandfather is an employee, as a pastor, all
the roles that I have. And you have many different
roles too, as men and women and children.
I have to persevere and keep myself in the love of God.
The Scriptures actually say to keep yourself in the love of
God. So my devotion to Jesus has to
be above everything else. And when I look at the church
and I pray for you guys every day, I go by the names and the
list. I think, OK, where are they with
the Lord or where aren't they with the Lord?
That's not an outward judgement. It's just like God.
I pray that they're digging deep into you and they're finding in
you everything they need. That's the heart of a pastor.
That's the heart of the Lord for all of us.
He wants you, me to be in love with Jesus.
And if we are, he knows our lives are going to be whole and
satisfying and protected from sin and destruction and stupid
moves and decisions. So my devotion to Jesus and the
Church of Ephesus, he's got this concern that in spite of all
this outward biblical stuff they're doing, they've moved
away from loving Jesus. And when you love Jesus, you're
fervent about him. You're uninhibited, you know,
you got a friend, the neighbor or relative.
You're not like, oh, should I tell him about the Lord or
should I bring it up? Man, you could care less what
anybody thinks. You just want to shop from the
rooftop. Jesus is Lord, I love him.
Jesus did this for me and he did that and I prayed.
And you don't care if people think you're nuts because you're
so in love with the Lord. But it when you find yourself a
little bit inhibited, embarrassed maybe about your
faith, wondering if it's going to affect your relationship with
people. You're moving away from your
first love. Whenever you don't have a desire
to read the word and to be in the word, not because we're
going through the Bible day by day through the Bible at the end
of the year, you can say, hey, I did it, but you're going through
it because you can't wait to hear God's voice to your heart
for today, fresh mana for today. Something God's giving you this
for your relationship with him. As I got those verses into that
surgery, boy, that was so important.
I said, Lord, I need a word from you.
I need you to give something to me.
And he did, and I held it in my pocket by my heart so I could
look at it and be reminded of his faithfulness.
The relationship has to be personal.
The husband can be father on in the Lord or the wife and and
that's not good because you can't go in the fumes of another
person's relationship. You guys can't live on the fumes
of a sermon for a week. Hopefully it spurs you and
encourages you and gives you a little bit of encouragement,
right? But you're going home because of
your relationship with Jesus that you had prior to even
coming to church on Sunday and you're walking close with him.
It's like the couples in the honeymoon when you first met
your, your spouse or the person you were going to eventually end
up marrying. You couldn't wait to see them.
You were on the phone with them texting.
I remember Justin damn met each other in eHarmony.
How many hours did you guys spend on the phone?
6A hour day plus they're emailing.
I mean, I mean, it was crazy, you know?
And that is the picture of the relationship with our Lord, that
we are talking to him all day long and we're never hearing
something that we've heard before.
We're bored. It's a it's a, this is a
wonderful relationship, But whenever you start to take each
other for granted in the relationship, or do you ever
take the Lord for granted? Oh, yeah.
I'm going to go to heaven someday.
That's nice. You know, Lord loves me.
Yeah. Eternal life.
That's great, but everything else is crowded out the
excitement of what that all means.
You're beginning to take Him for granted.
You're moving from your first love when life begins to be
routine and boring and uneventful and this a drag.
You've left your first love and then your relationship with the
Lord is in danger when you're neglecting worshiping God and
worship. This isn't here with Rick and
the guys on Sunday morning. Worship is in your car with your
CD. Worship is in your home with
your Bible open where you're just praising God, God and
thanking him for how much he loves you and all that he's done
and, and how great he is and how he's created the universe and
how he has his hand on everything that's going on in
the world at the same time with every life and every individual.
It's just mind blowing. And so you worship God and
you're, you're loving God. You find yourself serving God,
giving of your your livelihood for God's work, helping brothers
and sisters, helping neighbors. And helping people that don't
know the Lord doesn't matter because you love the Lord.
Dan and I were digging this woman out yesterday and she was
like I said, well, where you got to go?
She's like, how old is that Lady, 80s or something?
Yeah, she's out there with a shovel.
And you know, we say, hey man, no, we'll, we'll do it until
we're over there helping. I said, where you going?
She said I got to go to Mass. I said, when she said 4:00, I
said in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are
absolved. You can stay home.
She thought I was kidding. I said, no, I'm a pastor.
You just take it easy. The Lord knows you can't get out
here today. And she was so determined to go,
but we were digging her out and, and she says, oh, I can't, I
feel so bad. I'm making, I say, hey, we're
doing this because we love Jesus.
We're doing this because of him, you know, and I said, plus you
have some of those pizzelles in the house and those cookies.
And she said, all I do is she was all excited.
She went in and got him and brought him out to us, you know,
but but seriously, you know, we, we just did it because it's part
of this. What you do is as a follower of
Christ and you love him. And the Bible told the church in
Ephesus, in the book of Ephesian Ephesians, that they were seated
with Christ Jesus in heavenly places.
That's our position right now. Spiritually, you're in the
heavenly places with Christ where everything that is His is
yours, where we can't be lifted up any higher than He has us
right now. It's incredible what our
inheritance is in Christ. But where are you with that
right now, today? Where is your relationship with
the Lord? How are you doing with Jesus
Christ? He warns them that if they don't
repent, and I talked about repentance pretty extensively
last week. Repentance is the realization I
can't live like this anymore. I can't go through this
spiritual fog like this anymore. I'm done with this waste of time
and energy and things that aren't going to last.
And boy, I'll tell you when, when you, when you're dealing
with some kind of cancer or some kind of life potential problem,
you start realizing how short your life is, right?
All of us and one day all of us, I don't care how young you are
in here, you're going to be in a grave if Christ hasn't come yet
and your body is going to rot and you're just going to have
bones in there. I mean, there's nothing left.
Your spirit will be with the Lord.
The Bible says to be absent the bodies, to be present with the
Lord, everything you live for. And if it isn't for Christ is
all going to be a waste. It's all going to burn.
And I think as God gives me days on this earth, my whole desire
is for you guys and for his work.
That's the focus of my heart. I want to be around God willing
for my kids and to see my grandkids grow up and to see
them follow the Lord. That's that's the passion and
also that the days that I'm living, even though I got a lot
of things like you guys work and all these other things that can
destroy. I want my life to count for
eternity so that whenever I'm done and I stand before the
Lord, we can hear well done, good and faithful servant.
But he's warning them if you don't repent from where you've
fallen and whenever your first love isn't there, you got to
admit you're backslidden. He says repent and go back and
do the first works or I will come to you and remove the
lampstand from its place unless you repent.
Doesn't mean you're losing your salvation, but it means your
ability to influence the community as a church is gone.
In the Book of Revelation, Pastor Clark is taking us
through all kinds of events and happenings that are predicted
for the future. But for those who believe and
follow Jesus, there's much to look forward to in heaven with
Jesus. However, for those who are here
on earth during the Tribulation, there's all kinds of chaos that
will unfold. The Bible talks about an
Antichrist, a false prophet, and of course, that evil enemy,
Satan. Do you see how there are such
clever attempts for the enemy to disguise himself as God and even
the Trinity? The true Savior of the world is
God and how He comes to rescue through his triune nature God
the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?
Just like Satan tried to take over for God in heaven and was
cast out, Satan will try to convince people on earth that he
is the Triune God to be worshipped instead of the
legitimate God in heaven. It's an attempt, and although he
will capture plenty in his schemes, he will not win.
The true God wins, and Revelation unpacks how that will
all happen in detail. Be encouraged because there's a
way out for all of this madness that will ensue on this earth.
But you don't want to wait indefinitely to make that
decision about Jesus. We don't know when the church
will be raptured, and you want to be ready to be with Jesus.
To learn more about this, head over to calvarychapelonline.com.
We're so glad you've been with us today.
And if you'd like to connect further with this ministry, find
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app at calvarychapelonline.com. Be sure to join us for weekly
services at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.
This has been Living Waters of Grace.