1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,119 This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,240 Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,400 County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,720 continues teaching through God's Word. 5 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,320 When you're challenged with the will of God, you have the 6 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,680 opportunity to, as I started the message day to step back for a 7 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:50,120 minute and say I'm not real sure what I should do here as opposed 8 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,000 to this blowing through the the red light. 9 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,360 It's good to stop and test your plan and say, Lord, is this your 10 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,360 plan? Is this what you want me to do? 11 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,800 Or is this what I want to do? And if you give the Lord the 12 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:08,840 chance to answer your prayer, He will clearly show you His will. 13 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,040 It can be difficult to discern what God's will is for your 14 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,680 life. Sometimes you become anxious 15 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,760 that what you think is God's voice is actually just your own 16 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,160 subconscious telling you what you want to hear. 17 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,600 But Pastor Clark encourages you today to take the time to slow 18 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,320 down. When you have those moments of 19 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:30,000 anxiety, God will speak to you through His Word, and the wisdom 20 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,200 you gain from being a faithful student will help you learn how 21 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,400 to distinguish His will from your own human desires. 22 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,360 Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts chapter 18 with today's edition 23 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,680 of Living Waters of Grace. There was an assurance that keep 24 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,720 doing what you're doing this, maybe down the road you're going 25 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:51,920 to have some issues, and he did. But this wasn't the time that 26 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,040 his life is going to be taken. He had opportunity now to be 27 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,680 bold and to proclaim Christ in the midst of the culture that 28 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,640 wasn't really open to what he had to say. 29 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,560 No one's going to hurt him. And so he needed to hear that, 30 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,200 I'm sure, in Corinth, because it was a barbaric, godless city. 31 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,960 And he was pretty much by himself outside of Priscilla and 32 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,960 Aquila at the time in regard to doing this ministry. 33 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:24,120 And I love what it says here. He's encouraging Paul for I have 34 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,440 many people in the city. In other words, Paul, there's a 35 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,440 lot of people that live here in Corinth that need me, that will 36 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,480 come to know who I am because of what it is you're going to tell 37 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,280 them. I remember years ago, my brother 38 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,080 was a church planner and he had an opportunity to take over a 39 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,360 fledgling Baptist Church in Ambridge. 40 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,720 It was previously pastored by a transgender, believe it or not, 41 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:50,960 a person dressed up in dresses privately. 42 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:53,120 He was a preacher. I have no idea how that 43 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:54,600 happened. So my brother had to go in and 44 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:57,200 try to get this church back on its feet again. 45 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,840 And so we were at a pastors conference and we had an 46 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,800 opportunity to talk to Chuck. He had finished one of his 47 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,680 messages and we went up and I went in to introduce Pastor 48 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,520 Chuck and my brother Doug. And Chuck says where where are 49 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,200 you serving? And Doug says Ambridge, 50 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,960 Pennsylvania. And and then Doug began to tell 51 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,640 him what a terrible city it was. It was, you know, really run 52 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:21,840 down because of steel mills had closed down a lot of drug 53 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,120 addiction, alcoholism and poverty. 54 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,240 And and I'll never forget what Chuck says. 55 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,240 He looked at me, he says couldn't be any worse than 56 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,160 Corinth. And he said the dog, he says, 57 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,080 you know why you're there. And Doug just looked at him 58 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,880 shell shocked. And Chuck said because many 59 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,760 people need me there. So wherever there's a church, no 60 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:48,160 matter how big or how small, it's there. 61 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:54,200 And those cities, because people need Jesus, God placed us here 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,680 in this city because people need the Lord, they need the word, 63 00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:59,720 they need to be taught, they need to be fed. 64 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,720 So God has all these plans. And so Paul's encouraged by this 65 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,160 vision that the Lord gave him, and it says he continued there a 66 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,720 year and six months teaching the word of God among them. 67 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:16,680 This particular town was the place that Paul spent his most 68 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,200 time. He's never been in a place this 69 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,640 long in regard to ministry, 18 months. 70 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,400 So he's discipling, he's teaching, he's educating, he's 71 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,040 equipping, he's establishing this church. 72 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:31,000 And of course, we studied First and 2nd Corinthians. 73 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,080 You remember a lot of the craziness in that church that 74 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,200 carried over from the culture, people getting drunk at the 75 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:39,880 agape feast, sexual immorality in the church. 76 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,200 I mean, this whole kind of messes egos, some saying, well, 77 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,640 I prefer Paul's preaching. I prefer Apollo's preaching. 78 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,400 I I prefer Cephas Peters preaching. 79 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,360 And Paul had to teach him, hey, it's not what these guys are 80 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:54,840 doing, It's what the spirits doing. 81 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,000 All they're doing is watering, watering the word into your 82 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,920 heart so only God can give the increase. 83 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,440 So he said, you know, you don't have favorites, you don't play 84 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,800 this kind of political game. There's a lot of things in the 85 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,640 in the city of Corinth, even after the church established 86 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,240 that needed to be dealt with. And then it says in verse 12 on 87 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,000 Galileo, Galileo was his name was proconsul of Archaea. 88 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:22,480 The Jews with 1 accord rose up against Paul and brought him to 89 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,280 the judgment seeing saying this fellow persuades men to worship 90 00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:30,840 God contrary to the law. Once again, these rebel rousers, 91 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:33,360 these Jewish people is continually causing problems in 92 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,560 the in the city are causing problems again trying to set 93 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,360 Paul up and lying about the what it is he's doing. 94 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,480 And so when Paul was about to open his mouth, and this is 95 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,840 interesting too, I got to give a defense if I'm slandered, if I'm 96 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:51,640 accused of something I didn't do. 97 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,520 And the first thing you want to do is clarify to people who are 98 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,280 judging or accusing you, especially if it's a legal 99 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:02,040 issue. This is what my testimony is. 100 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,680 This is what the truth is. Well, he didn't even have to say 101 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:06,080 anything. He was getting ready to speak 102 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,160 this pro consul leader. And this would be in the center 103 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,960 of the city, a high platform where people would bring 104 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,160 grievances to this judge and he would have to make a ruling. 105 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,240 And so Gallio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of 106 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:23,160 wrongdoing or wicked crimes of Jews, there would be reason why 107 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,680 I should bear with you. So in other words, he's not 108 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,760 going to even take this seriously because this is a 109 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,880 conflict between these Jewish people and Paul. 110 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,640 But if it's a question of words and names and your own law, look 111 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,800 to it yourselves, for I do not want to be a judge of such 112 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:39,440 matters. And he drove them from the 113 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,440 judgement seat. So he didn't didn't even listen 114 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:44,240 to them. Now, what's interesting, if he 115 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,640 would have made this a criminal case and Paul wouldn't have been 116 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,400 able to preach there anymore, the whole gospel in the ministry 117 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,320 would have been shut down. But obviously the Lord prevented 118 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,480 that from happening. And then verse 17, all the 119 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,800 Greeks took Sophanes. This is a guy that took over the 120 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,240 synagogue after Christmas, got saved the roller of the 121 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,720 synagogue and they beat him before the judgment seat. 122 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,680 But Galileo took no notice of these things. 123 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,360 So these people are so vindictive and so hateful and 124 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:15,680 they're they're not Jewish people, obviously they're 125 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,600 they're Greeks. They take this new leader of the 126 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,320 synagogue and they literally beat him. 127 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,720 What's interesting is that this sophones eventually came a 128 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,080 believer too. And it's talked about in the 129 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,200 book of Corinthians how he also was baptized. 130 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,000 We see now Paul, he's done in Corinth. 131 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,720 This is after the 18 month duration in verse 18. 132 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,280 So Paul remained a good while, and then he took leave of the 133 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,720 brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were 134 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,520 with him. Priscilla and Aquila. 135 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,680 And it's like in our church, there's couples and families 136 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,920 here that Lewis and I couldn't do what we do apart from your 137 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,920 support, your prayers, your love, your concern, your care. 138 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,720 There's no way we could do this without encouragement from the 139 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,720 body of Christ. And Paul had this blessed 140 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,640 encouragement, not only from the churches he planted, but from 141 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,160 this special couple, Priscilla and her husband Aquila. 142 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:15,880 And it says here he had his hair cut off at Sancrea, for he had 143 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,800 taken a vow. The vow was a Nazarite vow. 144 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,600 Paul was Jewish and he still had a affinity and a love for his 145 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:28,840 Jewish history and Jewish tradition. 146 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:33,000 He would never ask a Gentile to follow any kind of Jewish 147 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,000 tradition, and these traditions weren't going to mess up the 148 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:40,120 gospel of grace or salvation. This had to do with a personal 149 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,800 consecration that Paul sense perhaps being in corn for 18 150 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:46,640 months. He probably was somewhat 151 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,240 defiled. He felt he had been exposed to 152 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,600 some godless things and some situations. 153 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,000 He wasn't intentionally sinning or anything, but I'm sure he had 154 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,560 to be tempted at times and he just wanted to get deeper with 155 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:01,680 the Lord. So this vow was a promise before 156 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:06,240 God of deeper sanctification, and it would be done by cutting 157 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:11,600 his hair and taking a vow of not partaking of the Grapevine for 158 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:16,040 30 days. And John the Baptist and Samson, 159 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,120 of course, took these Nazarite vows for the rest of their life. 160 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,000 But Paul felt compelled that he wanted to do this. 161 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,120 And This is why he took the vow and why he had his hair cut off, 162 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,200 it says. And he came to Ephesus and left 163 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,240 them there. So he, he goes down to Ephesus, 164 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:34,440 stops there briefly. Of course, we know there's a 165 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,920 church in Ephesus. There's a book called Ephesians. 166 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:38,680 We've studied that. We'll get there again. 167 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,800 But he himself again enters in the synagogue and reason with 168 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,200 the Jews. So wherever Paul went, the first 169 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:50,400 stop was not Chick-fil-A, right? That's where we go Chick-fil-A, 170 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:52,600 right? So Paul is, you know, finish 171 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,640 this Nazarite vow. He goes into the synagogue and 172 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,800 he's preaching the gospel again. When they asked him to stay a 173 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,200 longer time with them, he did not consent but took leave of 174 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:05,400 them, saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast in 175 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,800 Jerusalem, but I'll return again to you, God willing. 176 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:12,600 And he sailed from Ephesus. What's interesting was Paul 177 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,600 wanted to go to Ephesus a couple years before this time and he 178 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,400 was forbid he wasn't able to go. It wasn't God's will. 179 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,120 And now he has the ability to pass through and he's going to 180 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,520 go back and have a powerful ministry and in the city of 181 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:29,560 Ephesus and Priscilla and Aquila will be working there as well. 182 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,240 When you think about God's will, you have a plan. 183 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,200 I have a plan. I want to do this. 184 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:37,800 I want to go there, I want to buy this. 185 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,120 I want to work here. I want to whatever and whenever 186 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:47,000 God's got control of your life, you can't, and I'm thankful for 187 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,160 this. God knows where you're at 188 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,440 spiritually. And when you're tested to 189 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:59,680 challenge the will of God and you go opposite of will of God, 190 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,360 then there's conflict. Things don't work out like you 191 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,680 were hoping they would or wanted them to work out. 192 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,320 When you're challenged with the will of God, you have the 193 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:15,600 opportunity to, as I started the message day, to step back for a 194 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:19,520 minute and say, I'm not real sure what I should do here as 195 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:21,840 opposed to this blowing through the the red light. 196 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,080 It's good to stop and test your plan and say, Lord, is this your 197 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,000 plan? Is this what you want me to do? 198 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,400 Or is this what I want to do? And if you give the Lord the 199 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:38,400 chance to answer your prayer, He will clearly show you His will. 200 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:44,160 But we don't many times have the patience to wait upon the Lord 201 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:49,080 for His will. Now some things are maybe Gray. 202 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,480 Well, should I do AB or C? Well, God doesn't see problems 203 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:55,360 with any of those. Is there a perfect will? 204 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:59,200 Yeah, there's always a perfect will, but there's a prevenient 205 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,800 will, I guess, or a will that he preferred B. 206 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,360 But you take A, he's still going to work in your life and bless 207 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,560 you and, and help you. But it's good to to want to know 208 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:10,640 the perfect will of God. So Paul, instead of just saying 209 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,720 whenever he couldn't go to Ephesus before I'm going anyway, 210 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:15,520 I'm going to do this. And he didn't. 211 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,320 And now we see in God's sovereignty that he eventually 212 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,120 got to this place he wanted to be. 213 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,040 Then stay day long this time, but he's going to get a chance 214 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:26,320 to go back. And when he had landed at 215 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,680 Caesarea, he gone up and greeted the church. 216 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:34,120 He's in Jerusalem, he's meeting everybody, giving him updates of 217 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:37,400 his three-year missionary journey, where he's been, what's 218 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:39,200 happened. And then he goes down to his 219 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:43,400 home church, Antioch, where he was sent out from this 220 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,680 tremendous time, I'm sure to be able to give everybody an 221 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:49,200 update. And after he had spent some time 222 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,520 there, he departed and went over to the region of Galatia and 223 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,320 Phrygia in order to strengthening of all the 224 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,080 disciples. So a 1500 mile journey now from 225 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:03,280 Antioch to these other regions that he's going to be doing 226 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:09,080 ministry in places like Iconium and Tarsus and Derby and Lystra 227 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,360 and Antioch. And he's wanting to see, are 228 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,920 these people going deeper in Christ? 229 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,880 Where are they at spiritually in regard to their passion for the 230 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,360 ministry and the gospel? I sense, you know, that the Holy 231 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:24,920 Spirit visits us every time we gather. 232 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,960 He lives in us. He's omnipresent and He's 233 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,920 searching the audience here today, like, where are you with 234 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:34,200 Christ today? Where's the pastor? 235 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:37,440 Where's the worship people? Where all the people serving 236 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,400 here? Where are we with the Lord? 237 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,640 Are we here going through the motions? 238 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:45,920 Are we here to have God exercise our hearts and to take us deeper 239 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:50,560 and challenge our thoughts and give us more clarity on His will 240 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:53,560 and His purposes for our lives? Maybe He's calling us to 241 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:56,520 ministry, some kind of ministry here in the church, and we've 242 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:59,040 been holding back. We don't know why, we just do 243 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,600 sometimes all these kind of things are happening in in the 244 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,880 room whenever we hear the word and, and God's at work in the 245 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,200 word and through the word. And I don't have the radar 246 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,160 ability to know exactly what it is he wants to say to you today. 247 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:19,240 But the Holy Spirit does and he knows how to take something that 248 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,160 maybe I didn't even really cover. 249 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,120 And he's going to talk to you specifically about something he 250 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,160 wants you to deal with personally. 251 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,120 And he challenges your heart. He causes you to think about 252 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:32,400 some things maybe you haven't thought about for a while or 253 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,800 maybe never thought about. And that's how awesome our God 254 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,000 is. And I'm so thankful that, you 255 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,120 know, when I come here to preach, I have a limited ability 256 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,800 in regard to what it is I do. But God has unlimited ability. 257 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:53,600 And so if we allow him to speak between the lines, if you may, 258 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:59,160 or in the silence when nothing's being said, then we begin to 259 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,080 hear something from God. God spoke to me today at 260 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,040 Calvary. He showed me this. 261 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:11,200 I need to pray about that. I think this is what he's 262 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,240 calling me to. This is what I sense His will 263 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:20,440 might be giving God the opportunity to work in the midst 264 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,120 of the time of worship and the and the teaching of the Word. 265 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,080 And then we, we moved on into this last section here as he's 266 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,800 out there checking out the churches, seeing how people are 267 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,320 doing, you know, just thinking too, what if Paul showed up here 268 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:38,840 today, if you could and came up here and, and I sat down, what 269 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:43,280 would he ask us? What would he say to us? 270 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,600 What would he think about the ministry here? 271 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:54,240 That's something to think about. I know he would be interested in 272 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,080 your growth. Are you maturing? 273 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:04,040 Are you becoming more holy? Are you loving God more? 274 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:05,920 Are you learning to love people more? 275 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:10,960 Are you having an influence on people in your life for the 276 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,080 gospel and for the sake of Christ? 277 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,160 And if we weren't, he wouldn't condemn us or anything. 278 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,800 He just encouraged us and exhort us that we need to get right 279 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,040 with God get get closer to the Lord surrender more so in verse 280 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,760 24. Now a certain Jew named Apollos 281 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,440 and of course Apollos is mentioned in the book of 282 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,680 Corinthians. I'm a poem of Apollos. 283 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,760 I'm a Cephas born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in 284 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:43,200 the Scriptures came to Ephesus. Now there's no indication of 285 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,920 where this guy came from or he wasn't coming from another 286 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,600 church or whatever. He he obviously was a lover of 287 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,680 God and, and called by God and compelled by God that he's just 288 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:56,480 going to go out and, and preach. This man had been instructed in 289 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,360 the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and 290 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:03,760 taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only 291 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,160 the baptism of John. So he was a disciple of John the 292 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,720 Baptist. He knew who Jesus was, what he 293 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:11,520 did, what he accomplished, He's Messiah. 294 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,560 But he didn't understand a whole lot about the church, the plan 295 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,720 of God for the church, let alone the work of the Holy Spirit. 296 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,000 He had some holes in his ability to teach, but he was very, very 297 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,720 gifted and he had a real zeal and a very inspirational kind of 298 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,280 speaker of the people would respond to. 299 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,960 And he was taught in the ways of the Lord throughout the 300 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,680 teachings of the Old Testament at the time, fervent in spirit, 301 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:41,760 meaning he was on fire for God. And he didn't teach anything 302 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,920 inaccurate. It says he taught accurately the 303 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,400 things of the Lord, taught accurately the things that he 304 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,520 knew. But the one pitfall was he only 305 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,400 knew of the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in 306 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,680 the synagogue and when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they 307 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:00,760 took him aside and explained to him the way of God more 308 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:03,920 accurately. So it'd be like me or Lewis 309 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,920 here. We're done preaching and a 310 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:12,120 couple mature couple, godly couple deep couple wants to have 311 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:15,240 coffee with this Afrin said. Boy, that was a really blessed 312 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,760 message that you you brought. We wanted to share with you some 313 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:20,120 other things. I don't know if you ever knew 314 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:23,120 about this or thought about this or heard about this. 315 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,800 And, and he was a humble guy because he didn't act like, who 316 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,760 are you to talk to me, right? And it was a woman and a man 317 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:35,800 that's not a man, a godly woman and a godly man ministering to 318 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:41,280 this fellow Apollos. And so they, they took him aside 319 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:46,000 and they explained to him more accurately or more detailed the 320 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,600 things that he needed to know about so he could be a better 321 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,920 servant in the ministry. I'm so thankful I, I, I have 322 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,680 many influential people in this church that have helped me get 323 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,360 better at what I do. And Louis feels the same way 324 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:03,440 that we're growing in our ministries. 325 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,600 We're learning more about how to serve God with you guys. 326 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,080 We're, we're in process as well. And there's blind spots. 327 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,480 We have sometimes the things we didn't see or know. 328 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,920 And so you know, someone has a conversation or whatever, and it 329 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,160 helps us to to be more of a blessing and no pride, no ego in 330 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,640 in, in what it is we do. And we need God's help more than 331 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:26,520 ever. And what it is we're called to 332 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:30,440 do, especially in these very, very challenging days of of 333 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,720 ministry in the world that we live in today. 334 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:37,840 But equivalent Priscilla, again, I can't emphasize enough couples 335 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,440 in the church, younger couples, older couples, allow God to use 336 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,080 your ministry together as couples. 337 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,800 A husband and a wife team in ministry is powerful. 338 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,880 I believe that Priscilla was a little bit more, not the head of 339 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,160 the home, but she was more influential, I think in some 340 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,360 degrees in the church. Maybe she had more time or 341 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:01,400 whatever just gifting upon her. But it's evident in the 342 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:05,000 Scriptures that God uses deep women of God, doesn't he? 343 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,440 He does not to teach as a pastor, not to teach men per SE 344 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:14,000 in a public setting, but to share the truth of the Word of 345 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,320 God. My wife, Cindy, she's the most 346 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,560 influential woman in my life spiritually. 347 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:25,280 I need her counsel even when I don't feel like hearing it, need 348 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,200 her encouragement, need her criticism. 349 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:31,480 Whatever it is that God wants to pour through her, I need to be 350 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,200 open to. And I've learned after 51 years 351 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,800 to realize that God speaks through her life in a mighty 352 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:38,880 way. We move on here. 353 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:44,800 And when he had desired to cross to IKEA, the brother wrote, 354 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,480 exhorting the disciples to receive him. 355 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,440 So in other words, there's a letter of accommodation here 356 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:52,160 that's going to go with Apollo's. 357 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,560 Hey, this guy's a good teacher. He's sound, he's faithful. 358 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,240 He's not a heretic. You can trust him. 359 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:00,720 Invite him with open arms into your church. 360 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,200 It says he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. 361 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,280 And that's how we believe the gospel. 362 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,080 It's all through grace, right? By grace, we've been saved 363 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,360 through faith, and that is not of ourselves. 364 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:16,920 It's a gift of God, not of works. 365 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,760 And no one can boast the gospel of grace, right? 366 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,960 We're praying this morning. Lord, help us to be gracious 367 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,640 people. Help us to give grace. 368 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,800 Help us to receive grace. Help us to teach grace and to 369 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:34,440 preach grace so that the people that here and are part of this 370 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,920 ministry can grow and abound in the grace of God. 371 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:44,400 For it says in verse 28 he vigorously refuted the Jews 372 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,920 publicly showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the 373 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,160 Christ. And I, I believe we need to be 374 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,560 vigorous in our proclamation of the gospel, not milk toast or 375 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,080 watering things down because we're afraid of offending 376 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:01,120 people. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 377 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,640 the living God. There's no other name under 378 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,400 heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 379 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:12,320 Jesus Christ is the only way. He is the way, He is the truth. 380 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,280 He is the life. No man comes to the Father but 381 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:17,880 through him. You mean to tell me you can't go 382 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,280 to heaven unless you have Jesus? That's exactly what we're 383 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,680 saying, right? Well, isn't that bigoted? 384 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,960 There Isn't that, you know, single minded or arrogant or you 385 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,560 know, whatever, Hey, we're just telling you what the Bible says. 386 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,040 We're telling you what the truth is. 387 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,240 We're telling you what the gospel is. 388 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,440 It's all about Jesus Christ and him crucified, his death, his 389 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,280 burial, his resurrection. So this is what this man 390 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,840 Apollo's did. He vigorously refuted the 391 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,600 rejection and the negativity of the Jewish people when they 392 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,440 tried to deny that Jesus was a Messiah. 393 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:56,480 He didn't let up and he showed them not from his own wisdom or 394 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,800 his own ability. He showed them from the 395 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,720 scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. 396 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:04,720 Amen. And that's what we do. 397 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:09,360 We show people right one another through the scriptures that 398 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:13,160 Jesus is the Christ. Father God, we thank you Lord, 399 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,000 we pray now that you would take this word that we studied and 400 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,960 seal it into our hearts. Is there any bitterness or 401 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:24,760 unforgiveness or self centeredness or lust or idols or 402 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,920 whatever, Lord, that shouldn't be there as a child of God? 403 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:33,120 Lord, forgive us and wash those things out if they're there. 404 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,200 And Father, if there's anyone here today that's never come to 405 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,800 faith in Jesus Christ, that the day you would knock on their 406 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:46,280 hearts, Father, and show them that you died for them and that 407 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,880 you rose again from the dead, that they might have everlasting 408 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,200 life. And the day would be the day 409 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,680 that they would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 410 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,480 the living God. Thanks for joining us on this 411 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,440 journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living 412 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,840 Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most 413 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,560 remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the 414 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:12,640 disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet 415 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:17,480 here are very different from the often confused and fearful 416 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,280 disciples in the Gospels. After Jesus's death and 417 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,680 resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy 418 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:29,200 Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their 419 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,960 hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering, 420 00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:36,840 and they moved forward with courage to spread the gospel 421 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:41,400 despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same 422 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:46,360 Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our 423 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:49,960 hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ. 424 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,960 Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel 425 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,800 Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 426 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:02,080 area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E 427 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,320 Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B. 428 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:09,640 Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information or you can 429 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,920 also join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, give 430 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,560 online and download our mobile app. 431 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,720 If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM 432 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,360 on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping support the 433 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,360 new station that will reach thousands more listeners. 434 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:35,760 Send gifts to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. 435 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,960 If you can join us in person, you can subscribe to the Calvary 436 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,680 Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel so you'll be alerted 437 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:44,720 when new material becomes available. 438 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,240 We're so grateful that you joined us today in Acts. 439 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,320 TuneIn again soon for another edition of Living Waters of 440 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:51,880 Grace.