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 --> 00:00:40,640 We all have a tendency at times to ask God question, but why are 6 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,840 you allowing this Lord or what's the purpose in this or how can 7 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,160 anything good come out of this? We, we struggle at times with, 8 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,800 with God's sovereign hand and, and his work in our lives. 9 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,560 We have to understand there's always a bigger picture behind 10 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:57,320 everything that happens in our lives. 11 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,400 The Bible tells us and we all memorize the verse that all 12 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:03,280 things work together for good, right? 13 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,520 All things that means the bad things. 14 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,040 There's a famous Carrie Underwood song called Jesus Take 15 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,680 the Wheel, which is told from the perspective of a woman who 16 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:15,960 miraculously survives a car crash. 17 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,360 But in today's message, Pastor Clark teaches you that trusting 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,000 Jesus doesn't require you to give him the wheel temporarily. 19 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,440 Instead, you're supposed to fully surrender your life to 20 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:28,960 him, even though you don't know where the road will lead. 21 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,120 But fear not, God's Word teaches that He works everything out for 22 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:37,720 the good of those who serve Him. Now here's Pastor Clark in the 23 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,800 book of Acts Chapter 4 with today's edition of Living Waters 24 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:43,920 of Grace. So we are in the book of the 25 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,440 Acts going through this book verse by verse study. 26 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:52,520 Can we are in chapter 4 and this is verse 23 where the apostles 27 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,440 had this gotten released from the incarceration from the 28 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,520 authorities and the empire there that were trying to control them 29 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,720 and not allow them to share their faith in the streets. 30 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,640 They got delivered from this abuse and persecution. 31 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,280 And now they're going back to report to the rest of the group 32 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,080 that they are in communion with the body of Christ to pray for 33 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,160 boldness. So we'll pick it up here in 34 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,760 verse 23. And being let go, they went to 35 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,000 their own companions and reported all that the chief 36 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,000 priests and elders had said to them. 37 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:29,640 And so when they heard that, they raised their voice to God 38 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:33,960 with 1 accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and 39 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,120 earth and the sea and all that is in them. 40 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:39,960 So right away they're worshipping God for His 41 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:44,400 sovereign power and His ability to understand that God's always 42 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,720 in control no matter what is happening. 43 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,280 They were going through some difficult times, being 44 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,840 challenged by sharing their faith in the streets, and they 45 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:54,960 were being told they couldn't do this anymore. 46 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:59,160 And so instead of complaining about the authorities or asking 47 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,760 God's vengeance upon the government, they went right to 48 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,160 the Lord to praise Him. First of all, that in spite of 49 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,400 everything that's happening in their lives right now, they know 50 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,360 they're in the center of God's will and they know that He's in 51 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,000 charge. Nothing's happening outside of 52 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,880 God's awareness and His wisdom, and we have to keep that in mind 53 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:20,880 when we go through difficult times in life and challenges 54 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,840 that we don't understand. We have to realize that God is 55 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,680 not abandoned us. He's always there with us and 56 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:28,760 for us. He cares for us, He loves us, 57 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,640 and he promises He'll never leave us or forsake us. 58 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,040 And in those times of the dark nights of the soul that we all 59 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,840 have, we have to get before the Lord and say, Lord, I believe, 60 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,960 help my unbelief. Help me to stay faithful, not to 61 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,480 to go backwards, but to trust in You even though I don't 62 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:47,720 understand what is occurring right now. 63 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,640 Jeremiah, the prophet in the Old Testament was told to go preach 64 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,880 the word and he went to people that didn't want to hear what he 65 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,000 was saying. And because of that, they 66 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,800 eventually put him in prison. And he was upset with God 67 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,120 saying, I don't want to do this anymore. 68 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,600 I'm done, I'm resigning. I didn't sign up for this kind 69 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,200 of stuff. And the Lord let him Stew in his 70 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:11,320 own frustration. And eventually Jeremiah said, I 71 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:16,320 cannot but help to preach the word because it's like fire in 72 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,399 my bones. And so no matter what he wanted 73 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:22,040 to do, no matter what he wanted to stop the one or run or 74 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,920 whatever, he just had this constant urge in his heart to 75 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,560 share the truth of who God is with people. 76 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:31,000 And that's I'm sure the case with all of us. 77 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,360 We have that same Holy Spirit in us. 78 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,080 So they're worshipping God. And it's a good prayer dialogue 79 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:41,160 here to sort of think about when we go to the Lord to pray, how 80 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,680 do we start? Do we right away ask him about 81 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,240 things or tell him our troubles, or do we worship him for who he 82 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,360 is and how great he is? Because whenever you start a 83 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,560 prayer like this of God being the creator of everything that 84 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,880 exists, you begin to see how big God is as opposed to how small 85 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:02,160 you might think he is. When you got the big problem in 86 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,040 front of your eyes, you can't overcome and you're letting it 87 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,320 bring you down and and give you a depression and discouragement. 88 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,840 Well, here they're worshipping God together communally with one 89 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,600 heart and one, one mind. And they referred to David's 90 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,960 prayer and, and Psalm 2 as they're beginning to talk about 91 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,040 the the greatness of God. And David recognized the 92 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:28,600 greatness of God in his life and in his ministry. 93 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,560 And he said in Psalm 2, why did the nation's rage and the people 94 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,480 plot vain things? The kings of the earth took 95 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,040 their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the 96 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:43,200 Lord and against His Christ. And so since the beginning of 97 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,440 time, the day when the Lord will completely eliminate the 98 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:50,840 influence of Satan on this planet, on this earth, in this 99 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:52,880 universe. And what a day that will be. 100 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,280 But this is the testimony of what it's like to be a people of 101 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:00,200 God living in a world without God. 102 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,560 Look at the nations. Look how they raised. 103 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,880 Look at all the ungodliness that's being legislated and the 104 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,160 mandates that are being put upon different countries that have 105 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,800 nothing to do with the greatness of who God is. 106 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,920 Man wants to take control and he wants to run this world. 107 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,120 And the more we try to run the world without the grace of God 108 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,880 and the Holy Spirit, the more we destroy this world and destroy 109 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,880 one another. The writer continues here for 110 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:32,080 Truly in verse 27 against your holy servant Jesus, whom you 111 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,320 anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the 112 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,000 people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your 113 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,760 hand and your purpose determined before to be done. 114 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,040 So he's listing here Luke these different characters that were 115 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,680 responsible for putting Christ on the cross along with our sin, 116 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,240 obviously putting him on the cross. 117 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,920 And the big picture is here that God used all these players that 118 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,520 are mentioned here to be part of the fulfillment of his plan to 119 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:08,640 accomplish the prophetical plan that Christ would be crucified 120 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:10,760 and that the world would come against him. 121 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,400 And so they were just in communion, basically not even 122 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,120 unaware of it, that they were supporting and fulfilling the 123 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,600 plan of God even with their evilness. 124 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,760 And He said that they did whatever his hand, your hand, 125 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,640 your purpose determined before to be done. 126 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,560 We, we think lots of times in life about certain things that 127 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,400 occur and why they happen the way they do. 128 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,000 And we all have a tendency at times to ask God question, But 129 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,880 why are you allowing this Lord? Or what's the purpose in this or 130 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:44,080 how can anything good come out of this? 131 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,960 We, we struggle at times with, with God's sovereign hand in, in 132 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,880 his work in our lives. We have to understand there's 133 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,160 always a bigger picture behind everything that happens in our 134 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,880 lives. The Bible tells us and we all 135 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,200 memorize the verse that all things work together for good 136 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,560 right all things That means the bad things, the heartbreaking 137 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,520 things, the challenging things, everything all things work 138 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:11,400 together for good to those who love God and are called 139 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,680 according to his purpose. Then the next verse says for 140 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:19,160 those he did for know he did predestined to become conformed 141 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:21,080 to the image and likeness of his son. 142 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,520 So the challenges of life and the heartache of life at times 143 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,680 is making us a little more like Jesus. 144 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:33,360 Jesus is the representative to us of how we are to live this 145 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,840 life. We, we need to understand and 146 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,440 experience a little bit of what he had gone through and what he 147 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,679 went through for us so that we can begin to be humbled and 148 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,720 begin to be interested in others more so than we maybe think 149 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:51,040 about ourselves. And so he says now verse 29, to 150 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,840 begin to petition Lord, look on their threats and grant to your 151 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:59,840 servants that with all boldness they may speak your word. 152 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,000 So this was what they were praying for. 153 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,040 Lord, look at how they're trying to stop us from preaching your 154 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,000 word. Look how the culture today is 155 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,200 trying to undermine the authority of God and the world 156 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,840 and the church and the Word, how in some parts of the world 157 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,880 people are being persecuted and proclaiming this book, the 158 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,320 Bible, as being the word of God and the truth of God. 159 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:28,960 Lord, give us this grace. And Lord's aware of all these 160 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,280 threats. He's aware of what we need. 161 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,560 And we need to have boldness, all of us. 162 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,600 And they needed boldness in this time to speak your word. 163 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:42,400 So all of us at times we get nervous when we have a chance to 164 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:46,680 share the Lord with people. Holy Spirit's got our chest sort 165 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:50,680 of going and we know, Hey, I this is the Lord wants me to, to 166 00:09:50,680 --> 00:09:55,040 say something here. And sometimes we don't listen 167 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,560 and we regret that. But there's always obviously 168 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:01,640 other opportunities. But whenever he begins to work 169 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:06,000 with us, we can't do this in our own strength to proclaim the the 170 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,640 goodness in the word of God. We need the power of the Holy 171 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:13,520 Spirit, all of us, to be able to follow through and give the 172 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:18,040 message in the power of God. And so they're praying for 173 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,160 boldness that they may speak the word. 174 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,320 They were just threatened and told you will not speak this 175 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,280 man's name, Jesus again to anybody. 176 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:29,360 And they understood the consequences when they were 177 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,160 being told that by those in authority. 178 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,360 But then Peter said, well, we can't but help but the proclaim 179 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,680 what it is that he's done and who he is. 180 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:42,560 And, and they were obviously not going to listen to the edict of 181 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:45,080 the governing authorities at the time. 182 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,400 Later on, they say there's times in life where we have to obey 183 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,880 God rather than man right. And we're probably living in 184 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,000 days like that ourselves as a a country. 185 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:58,720 We have to understand our rights as citizens and our rights as 186 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,440 Christians. But our allegiance is really to 187 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:05,720 one who created everything. It's not to any governing 188 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:07,480 authority. We, we obey those who have 189 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,560 authority over us. We pray for them, that kind of 190 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:11,440 stuff. But whenever that authority 191 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,120 circumvents the will of God, that's when all of us in our own 192 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,560 conscience have to decide what are we going to do? 193 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:22,040 Are we going to listen to God or are we going to fear man? 194 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,080 And that's something that we are all, I'm sure, thinking about 195 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:27,640 more in the days that we're living. 196 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,120 And so then they also prayed that your word will have the 197 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:34,960 power, obviously to change the lives, but by stretching out 198 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,800 your hand to heal, it wasn't them praying. 199 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,640 God give us the power to heal or create miracles, all this stuff. 200 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,800 They always understood the apostles, that any miraculous 201 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,720 power that was manifest was not manifest by anybody's human 202 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,280 ability or the will of man. They were asking God to stretch 203 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,040 out his hand. Jesus is the great healer. 204 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,840 He's Jehovah Rapha, He's the great physician. 205 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,080 He has the power to heal, still heals and he's able to stretch 206 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:06,280 out his hand to heal. And that signs and wonders may 207 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,800 be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. 208 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:12,680 So in the early church, the amount of miracles that were 209 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:15,800 occurring on any given day were just unbelievable. 210 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,360 This is a common occurrence, signs and wonders miracles. 211 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:23,680 And then so as a result of that, it got activity, it got people 212 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:25,920 interested. Now a lot, not everybody that 213 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,640 came to to experience miracles or to see miracles became 214 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,200 followers of the Lord. Many of them just wanted the 215 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,520 hype and the excitement, but they had no interest in 216 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,200 repenting and living after the ways of God. 217 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,760 But nonetheless, the Lord used this Apostolic authority in the 218 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,800 beginning stages of the church to shape the church. 219 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,240 And so then they continue there here in verse 32. 220 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:50,920 And, and I'm thinking about like your life and mine, like this 221 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,720 past week. Did you have an opportunity to 222 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,920 share your faith with anybody? Did you have a chance to pray 223 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,240 with someone, to do a random act of kindness for someone in the 224 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,640 name of Jesus? Were you praying specifically 225 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,440 for a situation to come to pass in someone else's life that you 226 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,360 were burdened for that? Did you make a phone call to let 227 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,960 someone know you were thinking of them or caring about them? 228 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:19,680 These are all acts of power and boldness to come from the heart 229 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:24,520 of God who dwells in US through us as the people of God that we 230 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,160 might be instruments in his hands to be the hands and feet 231 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:32,160 of Jesus in this world of, of, of struggle and and challenge. 232 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,720 Cindy called me this week all excited. 233 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,320 She says you wouldn't guess you believe what the Lord did for 234 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,440 me. I, I visited this lady in the 235 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:43,360 development of an older woman where my mom lives and she's 236 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,480 having to like move out of her house and get rid of all her 237 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,720 belongings and she has to move into one of the skilled nursing 238 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,200 facilities. And she's, you know, you know, 239 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,480 overwhelmed that she has to do this in her life. 240 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,680 And she's looking at all the stuff and the memories and when 241 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:00,400 her husband was alive and all the beautiful experiences they 242 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,120 had. And her heart was sad that, you 243 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,960 know, she didn't, she knew she couldn't take everything with 244 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,040 her. And so Cindy said, why don't you 245 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,640 look at the things that are most important to give you the most 246 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,400 happy memories and just take those things. 247 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,520 And so they were talking and then the Lord just put on 248 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,680 Cindy's heart to ask the lady if she could pray for her. 249 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,640 And the woman said yes. And Cindy was so blessed that 250 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,560 she was able to be in that place providentially by God and a 251 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,160 situation that she wasn't even planning on doing. 252 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:33,520 The Lord just put on her heart to stop at this home and, and 253 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,440 then the Lord opened the door for her to minister Jesus to 254 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,040 this woman. And, and, and so the woman was 255 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,960 blessed and she was touched and, and tears and that kind of 256 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,600 stuff. But but Cindy was really blessed 257 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:48,360 and, and, and I, I was blessed and I have a, a wife, obviously, 258 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,920 who cares about people and, and wants to be used by the Lord, 259 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:53,560 right? That's, that's awesome, right? 260 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,040 And we all want to be that way. And it's all the work of the 261 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,120 Holy Spirit. He's the one that sets these 262 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,760 opportunities up. So they're they're talking about 263 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,400 this work of God and then it says in verse 31, and when they 264 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,640 had prayed, they were praying together with one heart and one 265 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,440 mind where they were assembled together. 266 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,320 It was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and 267 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,520 they spoke the word of God with boldness. 268 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,800 So I don't know how many people were here at this time, but it 269 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,000 was the apostles and the church beginning stages of the people 270 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,640 in the church. I'm sure a good number of people 271 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,280 assembled there. It wasn't evidence that this, 272 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,000 the apostles were filled, but the whole church was filled with 273 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,080 the Holy Spirit. It wasn't another Pentecost. 274 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,560 There's only one Pentecost. There's only one Calvary. 275 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,240 But it was a replication, if you may, of the influence and the 276 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:49,240 power of God being able to continually give the church and 277 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:52,800 the believers the power to do the work of the ministry. 278 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,880 And so, you know, we pray here, God, fill us with your spirit. 279 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,120 Fill us today as we're studying your word, Phyllis, as we 280 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,400 worship Phyllis, so that we go out of this place today 281 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,880 different than when we came and that we all have our antennas up 282 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,760 to want to be used by the Lord in a specific way, right? 283 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:14,120 To be used by God, to be able to have the Lord put aside our 284 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,640 obsessions and our compulsive natures at times of why I got to 285 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,160 do all this stuff first, you know, and then maybe I'll have 286 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,000 time to do some stuff that the Lord might be interested in. 287 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:29,080 So that's the opposite, right? The Bible says seek first the 288 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:31,600 Kingdom of God and His righteousness. 289 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:36,160 Seek first His will, His plan, His purposes, and everything 290 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,080 else you have need of will be added unto you. 291 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:41,920 And so they were filled, and we'll read throughout the book 292 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:46,200 of the Acts this tremendous work of God, the Holy Spirit filling 293 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,160 them with His power. I get up sometimes in the 294 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,200 morning and sometimes I don't feel like getting up. 295 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,280 I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to do anything. 296 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,360 That is going to be bummed out some days, right? 297 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:02,320 And then I say, Lord, come on, I need power, I need strength, I 298 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,800 need your, your love, your ability. 299 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,880 You know, you got to get me in gear here because if you don't, 300 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,680 I'm not going anywhere, right? And the Lord does that. 301 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:13,720 He's faithful to fill us. He's he's faithful to refresh us 302 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,480 and to renew us. And, and we got to be reminded 303 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,560 of the fact that we need the power of the Holy Spirit. 304 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:24,160 He's been given to us to give us the strength to live the 305 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,160 Christian life and to do our jobs and to do our marriages and 306 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,960 do our family life and all the things that we, we deal with in 307 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,680 life. Everything has to be done in and 308 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:37,600 through the power of the Holy Spirit. 309 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:42,000 And I'm amazed at how often and we have a tendency to try to do 310 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,480 stuff on our own strength. These guys were faced with a 311 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,360 challenge. They knew they needed to pray. 312 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,360 They got the people praying together with them and then they 313 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:55,800 petitioned God to do what they needed him to do in order for 314 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,160 them to be able to speak the word of God with boldness. 315 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,040 So then we continue in verse 32. This is when they began to share 316 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,720 all things. Now when we study Acts, a lot of 317 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,400 churches nowadays, they talk about wanting to get back to the 318 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,920 early church. Well, there's certain principles 319 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,000 of the early church that are eternal, if you may, the 320 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,760 teaching of the word, meeting in the apostles, doctrine, 321 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,280 fellowship, prayers and the breaking of bread, which is the 322 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,760 Lord's Supper and the Lord adds daily to the church such as 323 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,840 those who are being saved. But this instance of what they 324 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:30,120 did here in the beginning stages here was not something that we 325 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,440 see carried on in the pastoral epistles. 326 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,320 This is a one time experience. Some ideas that some folks had 327 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,200 that they thought they could share everything and and 328 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,600 breakdown their assets so that everybody would have enough to 329 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,400 be able to to take care of everything that was happening. 330 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:48,280 The problem was at this time that that there were so many 331 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,320 people in Jerusalem because of Pentecost, that there was a lot 332 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,800 of people who had left their homes and their families 333 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,200 temporarily and their jobs. And so they were there in this 334 00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,520 phenomena of this early church, this excitement. 335 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,320 So there was a lot of people that needed shelter, they needed 336 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,680 food, they needed provision. So they figure, let's pour our 337 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,920 assets together so we can take care of all the needs of the 338 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:10,960 people. Well, eventually this thing 339 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,840 stopped because first of all, they ran out of money. 340 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:18,160 Everybody needs to work in order to continually fuel the bills, 341 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,800 pay the bills that take care of the needs of the of the church, 342 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,200 that kind of stuff. So this wasn't written down as a 343 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,240 gospel mandate that this is what the church was to do. 344 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,600 If you want to know about giving and and participating in 345 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,560 community. Second Corinthians chapter 8 346 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:38,080 talks about why we give. We don't give out of compulsion. 347 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:42,800 We give willingly, cheerfully, as God has caused us to purpose 348 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,320 in our hearts or God loves a cheerful giver. 349 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,200 It wasn't like, you know, bring everything that you own to the 350 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,360 Calvary Chapel altar. And we, we, we figure out what 351 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:54,320 we do with it. You know, we take a portion of 352 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:56,160 what it is that God blesses us with. 353 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,720 We sow it into his Kingdom. He says, if we sow liberally, 354 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,640 we'll reap liberally. If we so sparingly, we'll reap 355 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,040 sparingly. So we have this desire in our 356 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,640 hearts as the Holy Spirit works in the church to give into the 357 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,200 work of the ministry. But anyway, these guys, what 358 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,600 they decided to do at this time says the multitude of those who 359 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:17,880 believe we're one heart and one soul. 360 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:20,320 And that's. Critical in a local ministry. 361 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,440 You want to have the same heart and the same mind. 362 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,960 Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was 363 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,480 his own, but they had all things in common. 364 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,760 So when you think about your assets and what God's entrusted 365 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,000 you with, they're really His. And He entrusts those things to 366 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,320 you to use accordingly, right? Use them for His Kingdom. 367 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,680 You use them for your goals, your pleasure. 368 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,240 He gives us the opportunity to use what it is He's entrusted us 369 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:46,920 with. But we have to all be good 370 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:48,640 stewards. We're going to give an account 371 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,720 God and how we use what it is He trusted us with. 372 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,560 But they had this plan to share things in common. 373 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,520 And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the 374 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:01,040 resurrection of the Lord Jesus. So the preaching was happening, 375 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,440 the Word of God was going out, the people were coming to know 376 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,400 Christ, or at least thinking about coming to Him, and great 377 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,560 grace was upon them all. So in the beginning stages of 378 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,440 the New Testament church, the grace of God was so abundant. 379 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,360 The church was so pure. There was so much love and 380 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:20,600 humility and simplicity. They didn't have a lot of 381 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,600 complicated things going on back in those days, or there was no 382 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,760 such thing as a praise ban. There was no such thing as 383 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,400 technology and computers and Wi-Fi and Internet. 384 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,400 I mean, we didn't have all that stuff back then. 385 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,760 And yet, believe it or not, God still is able to accomplish his 386 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:38,600 will, right? But they didn't even have a 387 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,240 building. They were in the streets in 388 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,400 those days. They met in the Solomon's 389 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,760 portico, borrowed the porch together as an assembly. 390 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,880 But basically, ministry was always happening out in the the 391 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,800 streets as the word of God was being proclaimed. 392 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:53,760 But great grace is upon them all. 393 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,080 And I think one of the important things to remember in the 394 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,840 Christian life and in the local church is that you try to keep 395 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,720 things as simple as you can, right? 396 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:05,960 That's really important because soon as they become complicated, 397 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,720 then we begin to get in the way of the Spirit of God. 398 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,520 We begin to quench the Spirit of God, We begin to grieve the 399 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,440 Spirit of God. Paul's heart, when he preached, 400 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,680 he said the one thing he was most concerned about as a church 401 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,280 began to develop was that the minds of the people would be 402 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,800 corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. 403 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,800 If our minds get complicated about church and ministry and 404 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,440 knowing the simplicity of the Bible, Jesus loves me. 405 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:34,840 This I know for or the Bible tells me. 406 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:36,560 So it doesn't get any better than that, right? 407 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,840 And then walking in that reality of God's love and experiencing 408 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,840 that on a daily basis, that's where it's at, right? 409 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:48,640 Whenever something begins to become a strain or pressure or 410 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,520 you know, passionless, then you know, Chuck Smith used to say 411 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,520 when something's on life support, in other words, man's 412 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,600 trying to keep it going, pull the plug. 413 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:01,160 It's already dead right? Don't try to make something 414 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:05,080 happen that God isn't in. And we all have a tendency at 415 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,160 times to do certain things. And lots of times we we begin to 416 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,600 do ministries in our lives. And it doesn't mean just because 417 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,640 we don't see anything happening right away that God isn't in it. 418 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,440 Sometimes God's testing, our perseverance, our dependence on 419 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,120 him, our patience are waiting upon the Lord. 420 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,480 The Bible says those who wait upon the Lord, right? 421 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:26,880 Waiting on the Lord is a hard thing to do. 422 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,520 They shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings 423 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,360 like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. 424 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:37,760 They shall walk and not faint. And you may be waiting on the 425 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,080 Lord for something in your life to come to pass. 426 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,920 Don't get discouraged and don't get downtrodden. 427 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,680 Whenever God gives you a vision and a purpose and a plan, keep 428 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:50,160 on keeping on, and in time you'll see the fruit come forth 429 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,280 as He blesses what it is. And He's called you to put your 430 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,440 hand too. Don't ever give up. 431 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,320 Thank you for listening to this edition of Living Waters of 432 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,560 Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching us 433 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,760 about the book of Acts in this series. 434 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:08,440 Acts is a powerful and unique part of Scripture, not just 435 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,240 because it records the spread of the gospel geographically from 436 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,400 Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but also culturally. 437 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,040 Acts shows us how the message of Jesus moved beyond its Jewish 438 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,720 roots and began to reach the Gentile world. 439 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,320 What started with Peter leading a small group in the Upper Room 440 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,200 became a global movement with Paul taking the gospel to 441 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,440 cities, synagogues, and marketplaces across the Roman 442 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,320 Empire. Acts captures this vital 443 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,160 transition and reminds us that the good news of Jesus is for 444 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,080 all people in every place. May we be inspired to carry that 445 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,360 same gospel boldly into our world today. 446 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,120 Living Waters of Grace comes to you from Calvary Chapel, 447 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,120 Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 448 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:01,040 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 449 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,120 Pray about helping support the new station that will reach 450 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,400 thousands more listeners. Send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 451 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:18,400 716, Greensburg, PA 15601 also invite you to join us in person 452 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:23,240 this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 453 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,760 Unit 6B. To stay up to date, visit 454 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,600 calvarychapelonline.com where you can find our teaching 455 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,720 archive, submit prayer requests, join our e-mail list, or give 456 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,360 online. If you're outside the area, 457 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,280 don't worry, you can still worship with us through the 458 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,080 Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel. 459 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,400 Be sure to subscribe so you won't miss new content. 460 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,080 You're so thankful that you joined us today. 461 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,600 Be sure to tune into the next edition of Living Waters of 462 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:53,120 Grace.