Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace 10.02.25
Transcript
- 0:03This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
- 0:08Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
- 0:12County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37So all the things that are wrong in the world today, we don't
- 0:40like it. We want to see it corrected.
- 0:42And that's a good thing. He's already overcome the world.
- 0:46He's not looking at this institution that we call the
- 0:51United States of America, which we all love and we're willing to
- 0:54die for. His hope is not built on
- 0:57America. The hope of God is built on one
- 1:03foundation, and that's the death, the burial, resurrection
- 1:07and soon coming of Jesus Christ. When we think of our allegiance
- 1:11to the Kingdom of God, it can be difficult to remember that the
- 1:14Kingdom of God takes priority over the nation we live in
- 1:18currently. See, God isn't coming to make a
- 1:20new Kingdom out of the nations of this current day and age.
- 1:24No, God is going to make everything new again and that
- 1:28means getting rid of all the man made institutions that we've
- 1:32built up over centuries. Our hope must be placed in Jesus
- 1:37or everything we've built up in this life will crumble to dust
- 1:40and be swept away. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts
- 1:44Chapter 5 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
- 1:48Stephen was one of the seven. He was not an apostle, but he
- 1:53was a man of God filled with the Holy Spirit.
- 1:56So God doesn't differentiate in regard to the communication of
- 2:00the Word. A man of God is a man of God.
- 2:03You know, the title does not make the man the man of God.
- 2:06It's not the pastor or the elder or the Deacon.
- 2:08It's you and me as men were either given over to serve God
- 2:12and to be used by God and to use our gifts that God's given us,
- 2:16or we just sit around and don't do anything right in our church.
- 2:20You know, we want to see more and more men teaching the word
- 2:23of God because if they're learning to teach the word of
- 2:25God, they're going to help the church grow, but they're also
- 2:28going to be used by the Lord in their own homes and their family
- 2:32and their own sphere of influence as as well as the
- 2:35church. And Wednesday night we have
- 2:37other guys beside pastors that are teaching the word and
- 2:40they're this is competent and gifted and a blessing to us is,
- 2:44is, is the pastors. We don't hold one person up
- 2:47higher than the other. It's the word of God that's
- 2:49doing the work right. The word of God communicated to
- 2:52the people of God is what changes the the hearts of of the
- 2:56people of God. So Stephen is a man of faith.
- 3:00It says here in verse 8, Stephen full of faith and power did
- 3:05great wonders and signs among the people.
- 3:07And then you might say, well, I thought any of the apostles
- 3:08could do that. Well, back in the early church
- 3:11days, God's miraculous power was being poured out through men and
- 3:14women and very different kind of circumstances.
- 3:18It wasn't, excuse me, only an Apostolic kind of authority that
- 3:21would have the ability to do these things.
- 3:24I mean, Stevens picked to be and there was no deacons at this
- 3:27time. Later on, the word developed
- 3:30Deacon means servant. In the book of Timothy, it tells
- 3:33about the qualifications of leaders in the church.
- 3:36But they weren't so much at this particular point in time
- 3:40positioned as deacons. They were just servants, right.
- 3:43So Steven, he's doing these ministries and he's called to
- 3:47help with the widows, but he, he didn't, well, I guess I'm just
- 3:51like a down and out guy and I'm, I'm not good enough to do
- 3:53anything else. So I'll help these widows and
- 3:56I'll, you know, no, he was a man of God.
- 3:59So he had a lot of spiritual gifts.
- 4:00He was able to do a lot of different things.
- 4:02He wasn't just doing one thing right.
- 4:04He was able to be used by the Lord.
- 4:06And then in verse 9, there arose some from what is called the
- 4:11synagogue of the freeman sirenians, Alexandrians and
- 4:15those from Silesia and Asia disputing with Stephen.
- 4:18They began to argue with him because of his evangelistic zeal
- 4:22and his preaching of of Christ. Cilicia is the region where the
- 4:26apostle Paul was serving with the Sanhedrin at the time.
- 4:30He was called Saul of Tarsus and we'll study later on in the book
- 4:34of the Acts how he became born again.
- 4:36But he was a persecutor of Christians.
- 4:39And so it says that and when they were not able to resist the
- 4:44wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
- 4:48So these guys are hearing what the gospel's about the person of
- 4:52Jesus, the history, the biblical point by point step and he goes
- 4:57into great detail. It's probably one of the
- 4:59greatest historical sermons in the New Testament as to what God
- 5:03started with Abraham and moved all the way through Christ when
- 5:05Christ came. We'll take our time as we study
- 5:08this. But so they're arguing with him.
- 5:11But what was amazing was they inside weren't able to resist
- 5:15the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
- 5:18There was an anointing on this man, and they weren't able to
- 5:21ignore it. They weren't able to dispute it.
- 5:25They weren't really able to find concrete evidence to disagree
- 5:28with what he was saying. They didn't like what he was
- 5:32saying, but they weren't able to disagree with what he was
- 5:36saying. They were convicted even at the
- 5:38early stage of his his preaching here.
- 5:40And it says then they secretly induce men to say we have heard
- 5:45him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.
- 5:49So already these guys are beginning to spread division and
- 5:52lies among the multitudes of people.
- 5:56They're putting him down. They're disagreeing, they're
- 5:59lying about things he said. Isn't that typical of anybody
- 6:03that is influential in the culture?
- 6:07If they're good people and they're trying to do the right
- 6:10job, how many people slander the leader or the spokesperson or
- 6:16the person? You know, it could be a
- 6:18politician, it could be, you know, whatever, a pastor, you
- 6:22guys or your family, you know, you're sharing your faith with
- 6:25someone and, and they're, they're saying, well, you know,
- 6:28I wouldn't listen to him because I saw him run a red light last
- 6:31week. You know, he's not a real
- 6:32Christian or just goofy stuff, right?
- 6:34They've come up with all kind of reasons to invalidate you as
- 6:37being a follower and a servant of God, right?
- 6:40So they're beginning to stir all this up.
- 6:43You know, we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses
- 6:47and God. He never did that.
- 6:49But he surely told them that Jesus was better than Moses,
- 6:52which he is, right? They also talked about the
- 6:57authority of Christ versus all those who went before him.
- 7:01He was very clear on representing the Lord as as to
- 7:05who he was and what he did. And it says in verse 12.
- 7:08And they stirred up the people, they got them all uptight, got
- 7:12them all anxious, aggravated the elders and the scribes, and they
- 7:17came upon him, seized him and brought him to the council.
- 7:21So none of this stuff's true. What they're saying about this
- 7:26evangelist Stephen, he's being faithful to just give the word
- 7:30out there simply the history of what Christ has done.
- 7:33And they get this group of people that want to arrest them
- 7:37now, seize them and bring them before the authorities, the same
- 7:41authorities that Christ had to go through and go before, which
- 7:44is interesting. They also set up false witnesses
- 7:48who said this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words
- 7:53against this holy place in the law.
- 7:56False witnesses, that's common in the day as well.
- 8:05How many times have you heard things that are being said about
- 8:08someone that aren't? That isn't true.
- 8:10This is happening in the political arena right now.
- 8:13Thank the Lord there's evidence to the contrary and it's brought
- 8:17out to clarify that it is a lie and it's not true, but it's the
- 8:22enemy always wants to bring lies and slanderous things against
- 8:27the truth. It's just the way it is in in
- 8:31our world, and it's the way it's been since the beginning of
- 8:33time. So they set up these false
- 8:36witnesses. Now, when Stephen was speaking
- 8:41about what God had put on his heart, he wasn't like saying
- 8:46that the temple was insignificant, but he was trying
- 8:51to help them understand. You've made this into an
- 8:54idolatrous institution. You've begun to worship the
- 8:59structure and the artwork and the beauty of the temple and not
- 9:02the one who created it. And that can happen very easily
- 9:06in, in, in churches. People saw, if you've been into
- 9:09that church, it's magnificent. They have the most amazing
- 9:12stained glass and they have, you know, how high ceilings in the,
- 9:16in the chandeliers and, and people can go on and on and on.
- 9:20And they like, they go into that and then they think, well, you
- 9:23know, because all that stuff's there, then there must be God
- 9:27must be there somehow. And then they, they, they come
- 9:29into a place like this. And where's the stained glass
- 9:32man? You know, is this really a
- 9:34church or is this a cult or what is this place?
- 9:36You know, and I'm not negating the beauty.
- 9:40I like a, a beautiful church. I go into Saint Vincent once in
- 9:43a while and pray when I'm driving down the road.
- 9:45I just like going in there because the sun's coming in
- 9:47through that stained glass window.
- 9:48It's cool. I like that.
- 9:50If we could afford it, I like to do it right.
- 9:52But we're never, we're probably never going to be able to do
- 9:54that. So if you want that, you got to
- 9:55go up there, right? Nonetheless, it's not an opinion
- 9:59of this is better and this is worse.
- 10:01You know, the whole idea was it was their heart.
- 10:04And because of their hearts being so focused on religion and
- 10:07the duty of the law, they were religious Pharisees, and they
- 10:12were trying to make everybody in a legalistic way, follow their
- 10:17pattern of religion. And so Stephen's telling them
- 10:21about the freedom that we have in Christ and that God is not
- 10:26dwelling in temples made with hands.
- 10:29Jesus made that clear. It's nice.
- 10:31You know, when we're together as a church, I sense God's presence
- 10:34here, not because of the building, but because you're
- 10:37here. You represent him.
- 10:39Your life is filled with God's Spirit and and that's what makes
- 10:43the place alive when whenever you guys all leave here and you
- 10:46walk in here, it's just a room. It's just a room, but you still
- 10:52can sense of spirit because he's with you if you're the only one
- 10:54in the room. For we have heard him say that
- 10:59this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change
- 11:03the customs which Moses delivered to us.
- 11:07So they're really making a big deal about the building.
- 11:12And whenever Jesus said this temple will be destroyed or be
- 11:16raised up in three days, we all know because we went through the
- 11:19Gospel studying, that he was referring to his body, right,
- 11:22and his resurrection. But of course, the temple was
- 11:26going to be destroyed in AD 70. And he warned them about what
- 11:30was going to happen to their wonderful city and because of
- 11:32their Pagan rituals and everything else that was going
- 11:36on, that the Lord was going to allow that all to be eventually
- 11:39destroyed. And the customs, you know, the
- 11:44traditions of men make God's word of no effect.
- 11:50If I or Lewis or any of us as leading the church began to make
- 11:56a custom primary versus the worship of Jesus, we've lost it.
- 12:04We've already gone down the wrong Rd. and all of us have
- 12:08come out of different churches before we got saved.
- 12:11Maybe we were in churches that preached the gospel, but every
- 12:14church had a custom that I was involved in and they weren't
- 12:18necessarily bad customs. But if the custom was made that
- 12:23you had to do this custom in order to please God, then you
- 12:28were guilt ridden. You felt like if I don't do
- 12:30this, then I'm really not following the Lord.
- 12:34Like, you know, we have an altar call once in a while, but I'm
- 12:37not against altar calls. But I'm not really for them all
- 12:40the time because they, they can become accustomed really quick.
- 12:43I remember when I first started as a pastor, if everybody wasn't
- 12:46at the altar before I was done preaching, I thought I failed,
- 12:49right? So people would graciously come
- 12:52up and there would be like two people sitting out there and
- 12:55everybody else is at the altar. I mean, So what do we do?
- 12:58Do we promise God this week that we're going to be better than we
- 13:01were last week and we're going to do things differently?
- 13:04Well, that's a nice idea to promise God, but usually your
- 13:07promises are going to fail and you're going to find yourself
- 13:10right back up front again under guilt again for the same thing.
- 13:14You didn't get straightened out with the week before, right?
- 13:16Doesn't make sense. Only the Holy Spirit can change
- 13:19the heart. It's not the custom of the
- 13:21altar. It's the work of God in your car
- 13:25or at the home or in your backyard or playing with your
- 13:27kid. God's everywhere.
- 13:29In him we live, move and have our being.
- 13:31So God is not positioned that man.
- 13:34If if you're not at the altar today, you're, you know, you're
- 13:37disobeying me and you're not following me or you're not, you
- 13:40know, I mean, I don't know how many times as a young Christian,
- 13:43I was on an altar and, and praying and, you know, wanting a
- 13:46miracle and wanting a quick fix to protect me from as a young
- 13:50man having lust of my heart, right?
- 13:53God allowed less in a good way, because if men didn't have a
- 13:56desire for a woman, there'd be no children.
- 13:59So right, To have a desire to see someone who's attractive and
- 14:04you're eventually going to get married to them, hopefully and
- 14:07not sleep around with them. That's not what God wants.
- 14:10But this desire that a man has for a woman, a woman has for a
- 14:13man is a thing made by God. It's a good thing the marriage
- 14:16bed isn't defiled, but as a young man I struggled a lot with
- 14:20that. I don't know, am I the only guy
- 14:22that had problems with that? Right.
- 14:27And I battled that I battled. I still battle it.
- 14:30Not to the degree I did when I was younger, but it's always
- 14:34there, isn't it? And I wish that I could have
- 14:38everything removed from my life in once one like switch and I'd
- 14:44I'd be perfect. I have no more flaws.
- 14:48I have no more sin. And the only one that can do
- 14:52that is a Lord. When he died for us, he took
- 14:55away all of our sin, didn't he? I can't negotiate with him and
- 15:03promise him something that I'm bound to fail in.
- 15:09I want to be more faithful. I want to be more dedicated, but
- 15:13that's got to be the Lord doing that.
- 15:16Because if I think I did it, then I'm going to come up here
- 15:18and try to make you guys think you got to do it in your own
- 15:21strength. And you can't without him, we
- 15:24can't do anything. We have to come to that
- 15:26realization without his help, we can do nothing.
- 15:31And so he's telling them about their customs that are not doing
- 15:37anything for anybody. They're, they're ridiculous.
- 15:40And the customs in the Old Testament, when you read through
- 15:43some of those customs that they had to go through to deal with
- 15:47leprosy and all that kind of stuff, did you have problem
- 15:50reading through the Bible in some of those areas?
- 15:52You just sort of skip through because you said, well, this has
- 15:55nothing to do with me. I don't know any lepers and I
- 15:58haven't had leprosy. So I'm not really that
- 16:00interested in how they dealt medically with leprosy.
- 16:04But back in those days you need to know how to deal with leprosy
- 16:07because there was a lot of lepers.
- 16:10So they bring all these customs in, these rituals, these issues
- 16:13of kosher and all these other things, and they make the gospel
- 16:18and the word of God have no effect.
- 16:22And so all who sat in the council looked steadfastly at
- 16:25him and saw his face as a face of an Angel.
- 16:28This is beautiful. Nothing was stirring this guy
- 16:33up. He had the peace of God on him,
- 16:36the anointing of God, the presence of God.
- 16:40His face was shining like Moses face was shining when he came
- 16:43down off the mountain, when he had met with God on Mount Sinai.
- 16:47They're looking at him and they got to be saying, what's with
- 16:51this guy? We're saying all these hateful,
- 16:55all these untrue things about him, and he's not standing up
- 17:01for his own rights or he's not trying to tell him they're wrong
- 17:04and they're liars and I'm going to get legal counsel.
- 17:09He was doing what he was doing because he loved God and he knew
- 17:14what God had called him to do, and he was not bothered by
- 17:18anybody's opinion or what it is they said or what it is they
- 17:22thought. I want to be more like that when
- 17:26my wife's mad at me and she's upset and she's probably right
- 17:34about what she's upset about. I want to be able to have a
- 17:38shiny face, not a mean face. What about you?
- 17:47And trying to turn it around like I'm OK and she's not.
- 17:51When you guys want to insult me or say something hurtful to me.
- 17:58Thought that you would ever think of doing that right?
- 18:02But if you did, or you might, I want to be like this snout and
- 18:06loving you and not worrying about it instead of it.
- 18:09Don't they realize how hard I work and how much I pray and how
- 18:12much I care about them? And this isn't fair.
- 18:15Lord, you know I didn't sign up for this.
- 18:17Stuff that's ridiculous don't even have that discussion in
- 18:23your mind about what you can't fix or do anything about.
- 18:27People are going to form opinions about you whether you
- 18:30like it or not. They're going to either say nice
- 18:33things, they're going to say hurtful things.
- 18:36And if we can get free from that, like Stephen was able to
- 18:40be free from this, and this is a big time like assault on him,
- 18:44it's going to cost him his life by what it is he's saying here,
- 18:50that he had the presence of God, God's fullness in him.
- 18:57Everything he's doing is according to the will of God.
- 19:02Jesus told these guys long before he was crucified in the
- 19:08world. You'll have tribulation, the
- 19:10trials, difficulty, heartache, crisis.
- 19:16Think you don't like things you don't think are fair in the
- 19:19world, You'll have tribulation. But be of good cheer.
- 19:23This guy's of good cheer here. Stephen has good cheer because
- 19:30Jesus told us he's overcome the world.
- 19:34So all the things that are wrong in the world today, we don't
- 19:37like it. We want to see it corrected.
- 19:40And that's a good thing. He's already overcome the world.
- 19:43He's not looking at this institution that we call the
- 19:48United States of America, which we all love and we're willing to
- 19:51die for. His hope is not built on
- 19:54America. The hope of God is built on one
- 19:59foundation, and that's the death, the burial, resurrection,
- 20:03and soon coming of Jesus Christ. And that impacts every nation
- 20:08and every people group in the whole world, doesn't it?
- 20:13So he's the witness. He's the faithful testimony.
- 20:16He's the one who's sticking his neck out in the midst of a
- 20:20culture that doesn't want to hear what it is he has to say.
- 20:25And you and I are in a culture right now that people really
- 20:29aren't interested in what your opinion is or what you think is
- 20:35right or wrong or biblical. The majority of the culture we
- 20:40live in is Pagan. They look at the percentages bar
- 20:44and it's like 5545. Maybe the people that still
- 20:49believe in some judeo-christian value in their hearts and in
- 20:53their lives and their families. But it's never too late to pray
- 21:01for God to move and bring revival.
- 21:05As bad as things might look on horizon, and as messed up as
- 21:09everything seems to be right now, would God turn the tides of
- 21:14the hearts of the human race toward Him again, where we might
- 21:18begin to move in the direction that He'll bless and not curse?
- 21:23That's my hope, that's my prayer.
- 21:26Just because things are going wrong and they don't look good,
- 21:30it's not usually going to affect how I experience my life on a
- 21:33daily basis. I have joy in my life.
- 21:36I have so much to be thankful for.
- 21:38I got a wonderful family and a wonderful church community to be
- 21:42part of and serve and got my health.
- 21:45As far as I know at this point in time, God's faithful to
- 21:49provide. There's so much to be thankful
- 21:52for, isn't there? And we need to focus on, as the
- 21:56Bible said, whatsoever things are pure and lovely and just and
- 22:00a good report. I don't need to turn on media
- 22:05and get bad reports all day long and all that.
- 22:07There's people making $1,000,000.
- 22:09I'm making nothing. All I do is get upset when I
- 22:12hear what they say. Most of the time I write.
- 22:14But I'm like, you know, I don't like this.
- 22:16You know, it's making me depressed.
- 22:18Turn it off. It's not a good report.
- 22:22And you need and I need, we need to build into each other things
- 22:25that are pure lovely, Justin, a good report.
- 22:28We need to build each other up. You need to build your children
- 22:31up. You need to build your wives or
- 22:33husbands up in the things of God.
- 22:36And when you come and you worship on Sundays here,
- 22:40whenever you come in the small groups, whatever you're involved
- 22:43in, rejoice in the fact that you still have the ability to serve
- 22:48God. No one's grabbing you and taking
- 22:50you before a court of anarchist and, and, and threatening to
- 22:55take your life if you don't shut up, right?
- 22:57We have a time, such a time as this to be witnesses through the
- 23:01airwaves, through the media, through one-on-one relationships
- 23:04and conversations. Praise God, right?
- 23:10I mean, he's the God of all hope, isn't he?
- 23:14He's the God of all comfort. Too many Christians are walking
- 23:18around. Oh.
- 23:19This is terrible. What's going on?
- 23:20And nothing's going to ever get better and the world's going to
- 23:24hell in a handbasket and oh, Jesus is coming.
- 23:27Take Me Out now so I don't have to pay my credit card debt off.
- 23:30Tomorrow, right? Spend time with Him.
- 23:38The more time you spend with him, the better things get.
- 23:41The least amount of time you spend with him, the worse things
- 23:44get. So Jesus, He's the answer.
- 23:49Jesus is the only answer to every need of the human heart.
- 23:54Amen. Thanks for joining us on today's
- 23:58edition of Living Waters of Grace, a ministry of Calvary
- 24:02Chapel, Westmoreland. Today, Pastor Clark is teaching
- 24:05about the Book of Acts. As we learn more about Acts, it
- 24:09becomes clear that the early church didn't miss a single
- 24:12opportunity to share the gospel. In nearly every chapter, you see
- 24:16apostles like Peter and Paul stepping into conversations,
- 24:20crowds, and crises with boldness, ready to proclaim the
- 24:25name of Jesus. Their example challenges us to
- 24:28consider how we might step into gospel moments in our own lives.
- 24:33What doors might God open this week for you to speak truth,
- 24:37offer hope, or live out your faith in a way that points
- 24:40others to Him? The story of Acts reminds us we
- 24:43are part of the same mission. Today, let's live with eyes open
- 24:47and hearts ready to respond. We hope you are challenged by
- 24:51today's message. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
- 24:53area, we'd love to see you in person this Sunday at 10:30 AM
- 24:58at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
- 25:02For more information, visit calvarychapelonline.com.
- 25:06You could also join our e-mail list, give online, or submit a
- 25:10prayer request right from the site.
- 25:12If you can't make it in person, be sure to tune in on the
- 25:16Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel.
- 25:18Subscribe so you never miss new teachings.
- 25:22If you're in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
- 25:25on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping financially
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- 25:37FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
- 25:44Once again, we're so grateful you joined us today to be
- 25:46inspired by God's Word. Please tune in again for more
- 25:50Living Waters of Grace.