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Living Waters of Grace 10.21.25 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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We think there's got to be strings attached, so there's got
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to be something else other than disgrace.
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And then when God's grace begins to apprehend our heart, we begin
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to experience God in a way that humanly can't be comprehended
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apart from grace. Grace is what gives you the
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ability to forgive and forget. Grace is the ability for you to
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receive forgiveness and accept the fact that Jesus did forgive
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you of all your sins. The word grace comes from the
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Greek word charis, which means unmerited favor and the divine
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influence upon the heart as reflected in life.
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Today. Pastor Clark will share many
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examples of what grace is and what it looks like in the life
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of a follower of Jesus. As you listen today, maybe ask
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yourself, does the grace of Jesus mark my life?
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And if the answer is no, then you'll want to listen to the end
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of today's broadcast as Pastor Clark shares more.
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When the grace of God marks your life, that same grace begins to
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spill out into the lives of those around you.
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You will begin to overflow. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts
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Chapter 11 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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Acts Chapter 11 and we're reading about the the issue here
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of Peter who had thus given the gospel to Cornelius a Gentile in
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Acts chapter 10. And now Peter's heading up back
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to Jerusalem and we'll see what he has to deal with here.
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So it says in verse one. Now the apostles and brethren
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who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the
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word of God. So these guys in Jerusalem are
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legalists, they're Christians, but they're under the bondage of
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religion. They believe that in order to be
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a real Christian, you had to be become a Jew and you had to be
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circumcised, and you had to follow the traditions and the
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laws of Moses in order to be a real believer.
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They had prejudice against Gentiles, Jewish people and
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Gentiles didn't get along back in those days.
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In some cases today there's still issues between these two
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races. But nonetheless, it was all
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based upon this idea that this is the way you do worship, this
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is the way you do faith, this is the way you follow Jesus.
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And the problem in in the world of Christianity Today is that
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you have all these different denominations with everybody
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sort of having a preference of how things should be done.
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And we need to have our hearts open to the fact that the Lord
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works in many, many different churches in different ways with
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the same gospel. If a church is a Bible church,
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and it's a church that believes in the Trinity and the virgin
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birth and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
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and the Bible being the inherent word of God, that's the
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foundation. Everything else is up to
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negotiation. Whether someone uses guitars or
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drums or candles or incense, those things are really
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secondary, aren't they? But many times people get
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uptight about different things and how people do things.
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So the Jewish people here at this time were very, very
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struggling in regard to Peter because he had spent time in the
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House of Cornelius, Peter being Jewish, Cornelius being a
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Gentile. So when Peter came up to
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Jerusalem, those are the circumcision contended with him
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saying you went into uncircumcised men and ate with
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them. I mean, that's a big deal.
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Back in those days. You do something like that.
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You are going against all your core beliefs that you've ever
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had as a Jewish person. And as a result, they had this
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struggle and they had this difficulty.
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And so Peter explained it to them in order from the
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beginning, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a
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trance I saw a vision and object descending like a great sheep
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let down from heaven by four corners.
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And it came to me. And when I observed it intently
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and considered, I saw 4 footed animals of the earth, wild
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beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.
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And I heard a voice saying to me, Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
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But I said, not so Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at
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any time entered my mouth. But the voice answered me again
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from heaven. What God has cleansed you must
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not call common. Now this was done three times,
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and all were drawn up again into heaven.
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And so we see this, this vision that Peter had, and he grew up
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as a Jew. He grew up with all these
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traditions and he was used to doing things a certain way.
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And God is preparing him now to take the gospel to Gentile
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people, to be with people that he would normally not want to be
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around, that he would consider unclean.
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And so God gave him this vision and, and Peter had to have
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everything like 3 times. If you remember, the Lord told
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him he was going to deny him three times, right?
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And then after Peter's denial and he got right with God again,
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the Lord asked him a question three times.
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Do you love me, Peter? Sort of hard headed, right?
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Thick skin or whatever you want to call it.
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He just was a different kind of individual.
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And the Lord had to make sure he understood this vision.
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That's not one time, but three times.
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So I think we're all a lot like that.
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We need to hear things more than one time, especially when
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they're from the Bible, because it takes a while for things to
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to settle in and for us to consider what it is that the
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Holy Spirit wants us to understand when we're hearing
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the words, when we're reading the word, when we're being
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taught the word. And so in this specific vision,
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all these UN kosher animals are in this blanket and he's given
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the permission by God that he can now eat these things that he
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was at one time told it would be a terrible sin, an abomination
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actually to eat these kind of things as a Jewish person and
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even challenges the the Lord in regard to this one.
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In verse 7, when the Lord says rise, Peter kill and eat, he
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said, not so Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any
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time entered my mouth. But then the Lord from heaven
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speaks what God has cleansed you must not call common.
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So about the third time this happened, Peter began to be more
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open to something. Perhaps he didn't quite
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understand yet. Now you got to understand in in
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the Christian life and and learning about the Lord, Not
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everything dawns on us all the sudden, right?
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We don't grasp everything clearly.
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Many times it takes a while to really understand what the
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Bible's saying in certain areas. Some things are more difficult
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to understand. And a big issue in Christianity
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is it's a, it's a faith and I'm going to call it a religion.
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It's a movement of God's spirit, supernatural that is based upon
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grace, right, based upon grace. And we're not really able to
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understand grace or receive grace the way God intends us to
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experience grace. Grace is liberating.
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Grace is freeing. Grace is transformative.
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Paul was an apostle of grace. Everything he taught is about
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the grace of God. That none of us deserve
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anything. None of us have the capacity to
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earn anything. Grace is a gift.
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And when we first hear about grace, it's almost too good to
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be true. We think there's got to be
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strings attached or there's got to be something else other than
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disgrace. And then when God's grace begins
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to apprehend our heart, we begin to experience God in a way that
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humanly can't be comprehended apart from grace.
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Grace is what gives you the ability to forgive and forget.
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Grace is the ability for you to receive forgiveness and accept
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the fact that Jesus did forgive you of all your sins.
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Grace is the ability to give other people some latitude
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without being critical or judgmental.
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Grace is to be able to forgive a Pagan or pray for people who
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don't know Christ. Grace is to be able to live in a
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country that is so divided that all you want to do is think
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about ways that you can tell people about Jesus.
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Because that's the only answer to the unbelieving, Pagan,
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immoral mindset, the grace of God.
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We can't respond or behave or act any differently as a fallen
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people apart from the grace of God changing our hearts and
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making us like Jesus. And so Peter is now about ready
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to understand grace in a way that he's never experienced
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before. And so as he finishes this
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vision, he's done with this vision.
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It says in verse 11, soon as this vision is done in the in
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the, the cloth in the blanket goes back up into heaven.
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At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I
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was, where he was having been sent to me from Caesarea.
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Three men stood there. He just heard three times God's
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truth regarding grace and three persons represents the Trinity.
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It's interesting how numbers are so significant in the Bible.
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The three, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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One, God manifests in three persons.
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So there's three men standing at the house.
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These men were sent from Caesarea.
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These are Gentiles now up until this point, before the vision,
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if they would have been at the door, he might have said, well,
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nice meeting you. There's a bed and breakfast down
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the road. You can go there.
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I'll catch up with you later outside.
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You would never invite a Gentile into your house.
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That's how dark the discrimination and prejudice
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was. So in verse 12 it says then the
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Spirit told me to go with them, dotting nothing, doubting
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nothing. He listened to the Holy Spirit
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and he knew completely that this was what God had ordained him to
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do, to meet these three guys and to go with him.
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He was told this in the vision back in chapter 10.
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We know not only did he go with them, but he invited him into
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the house and he, he took care of them for a while and fed them
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and, and all this bondage of prejudice was completely
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destroyed and broken down, wasn't existing anymore.
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Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me and we entered
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the man's house. Now Peter didn't go into as much
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details of what happened in chapter 10 because you got to
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realize he's talking to legalists.
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He's very careful in keeping the main focus of the message very
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clear and simple to accept. He didn't get into the thing
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that God said to Cornelius was an honorable man.
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He he gave offerings or whatever.
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He didn't set it up to justify anything and the and the Gentile
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mindset that would be unacceptable to a Jewish
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authority or Jewish spiritual leader at the time.
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So Peter was wise enough when he went, he didn't go himself.
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He needed some witnesses because he has to now give an account
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before the leaders in Jerusalem, what he did, why he was there,
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what went on, what actually happened.
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And these six brethren with him were witnesses.
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So we enter the man's house, verse 13, And he told us how he
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had seen an Angel standing in his house, who said to him, send
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men to Joppa. This is where Peter was living
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with Simon the Tanner at the time, and call for Simon.
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His surname is Peter. Who will tell you words by which
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you and all your household will be saved.
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And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, is
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upon us at the beginning that the irony of this whole
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situation is that Peter is a apostle.
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He's a preacher, He's gifted. And I'm sure he had a big plan
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in this message. He might have had three points,
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five points, 6 points. He was just getting started.
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And the Holy Spirit fell down and said, Peter, you don't need
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to say anything else. I'm going to save these people
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supernaturally. And the Holy Spirit fell and
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they believed and they got saved.
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And I love this because Peter didn't say, Lord, I'm not done
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with my message yet. Peter's learning to trust God
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more obviously and depend on him more.
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And so the Holy Spirit falls on these people, and he says to
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these authorities in Jerusalem, what we saw, what we
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experienced, me and the six witnesses and all the people in
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the house, the same thing that happened to us back in Acts
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chapter 1 and 2, when the Holy Spirit fell in the upper room.
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And 120 people had experienced this phenomena of the baptism of
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the Holy Spirit and had the evidence of that specific time
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of tongues. And there was other times in
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Acts where the Spirit fell that tongues weren't manifest, but
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nonetheless they're a legitimate gift.
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And they were manifest in the beginning of Pentecost and in
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this case, and it was so important that they would
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experience salvation the same way the Jews did as Gentiles.
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So the Jewish people wouldn't be able to say, well, this isn't
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legitimate, they didn't have this experience or whatever.
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And so I remembered the the word of the Lord, how he said, John
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indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
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Holy Spirit. If therefore God gave them the
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same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus
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Christ, who is I that I could withstand God.
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So he he throws it back on them and just ask the question.
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He's humble when he's sharing this with these people, these
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leaders, and he's not pushy. He's just stating the facts.
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When they heard these things, they became silent.
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And that's a miracle in and of itself for these Jewish leaders
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to not come back with some kind of altercation or defense that
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this isn't legitimate. It says when they heard these
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things, they became silent and they glorified God, saying then
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God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.
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Isn't it wonderful that there is no discrimination from God our
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Creator? That all men are created equal?
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No one is better than anyone else.
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No race is better than anyone else.
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No country is better than anyone else.
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We're all level at the foot of the cross, aren't we all have
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sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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There's none that doeth good. No, not one.
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The Bible says that's the whole human race to God in his mercy
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through the gospel chooses to save people and continually
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saves people over and over and over again through the simple
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preaching of the word. And what excites me whenever I
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read this, I think about even today as a pastor, I'm here
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endeavoring to want to do the best I can to to feed you guys
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and give you what the scriptures are saying.
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But I'm not stupid enough or foolish enough to think that God
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cannot circumvent what it is I'm saying and speak to you
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individually while you're sitting here and you're hearing
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something from God that has to do with your life and where
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you're at and what's happening with you that I didn't even say
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or talk about today. Somehow God does meets you here
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in your seat as you're hearing His word.
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He talks to you about things that He wants you to know about,
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things he wants you to consider or reflect upon.
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And so Peter sort of like moving off the map here is the focus,
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focus in the 1st 11 chapters of Acts.
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Now the focus is going to shift more to the Paul.
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We'll see Peter again in chapter 12 here.
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But now Barnabas, he is now on the scene.
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You remember Barnabas, he's the guy that gave the property to
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the early church in the beginning.
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He donated property and Anas, Anais and Sapphira was sort of
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jealous of what he did and they wanted to be recognized like
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Barnabas. So they they lied and they said
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they were given whatever to God that they didn't give and ended
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up dying and getting dragged out of the church.
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The Lord just dealt with her. They're lying and quite sobering
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experience in those early days. Barnabas was a, a man of great
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comfort and he was an encourager.
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And this is just the way he always was.
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Matter of fact, whenever Paul, Saul got converted on the on the
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road there to Damascus and, and everybody's afraid because Paul
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was a persecutor of Saul was a persecutor of Christians before
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he was called Saul. Barnabas was able to meet with
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Saul and see that his conversion was legitimate, that what
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happened to him was a miracle, and that he really got saved.
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And then he was able to go up with Barnabas to Jerusalem later
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to meet the religious leaders at the time, the Judaizers, and
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tell them, hey, don't be afraid of Saul.
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He's one of us now. He's our brother.
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And so Saul also is aware of the fact that whenever Saul was
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called into the ministry that the Lord told him he would take
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the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jewish member of the
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Sanhedrin, a Pharisee now born again, becomes an apostle
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because he's an eyewitness of Christ on that road.
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And he goes up after his meeting in Jerusalem and they sent him
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to Tarsus for they figure, 8 to 12 years.
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So he's up there by himself, not with anybody else, studying,
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learning. He didn't go into the ministry
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the next day after he got saved. He was used the next day after
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he got saved. He did speak in the synagogues,
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but there was a lot for him to learn and hear from the Lord.
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Eventually he wrote most of the New Testament.
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So Barnabas in his mind, they're sending him.
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We'll continue to read here. Now verse 19.
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Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose
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over Stephen, you remember Stephen was martyred few
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chapters back. The first martyr, Christian
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martyr in the, in the New Testament, these people then
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were persecuted and they traveled as far as Phoenicia,
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Cyprus and Antioch. So they're, they're spread out
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and they're preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.
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So initially these people that are in in Jerusalem are, are
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being spread out because of the persecution, but their focus
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again is just Jewish people. But some of them were men from
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Cyprus and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the
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Hellenists. You remember the Hellenists were
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the Greek cultural Jewish people preaching the Lord Jesus and and
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the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed
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in and turned to the Lord. Now now recognize in this
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section of Scripture here that these were people like you and
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me. They weren't, I'm not an
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apostle. You aren't either.
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You know, we're, we're just like normal believers.
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We all have different spiritual gifts, but we're just like
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normal everyday people, right? These people were normal
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everyday people that were pressed out because of the
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persecution and they were out there telling other people about
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what Jesus did for them and as a result of their communication in
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their marketplace and their neighborhoods where they live,
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that kind of stuff, A great number of people believed and
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turned to the Lord. None of them said, well, we got
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to wait till the apostles come up or wait till Peter comes up
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or Barnabas or Saul or James or whatever.
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No, like it was so infectious the the work of God's Spirit and
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the lives of people like you and me, which it should be that way
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still, right? That's why we're studying Acts
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to get revived, to learn more about how we can be used by the
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Lord in these kind of situations, right?
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That they had an impact and all these people believed and turned
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to the Lord. Then news of these things came
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to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.
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So they're hearing what's going on.
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The Lord is bringing a harvest. People are getting saved.
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So they think about who they sent out already that God has
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used. Now Barnabas is going to go as
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far as Antioch. They're sending Barnabas up
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there as a leader. And when he came and had seen
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the grace of God, the grace of God, right?
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When you see the grace of God, it attracts you.
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I want the grace of God to be poured on in here, that there's
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not enough room for people to come, not because of us, but
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because of the grace of God. I'll tell you an interesting
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story. I was on a Zoom call this week
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and I was with a man who is a devout Roman Catholic.
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Him and his wife, they happened to live in a garden apartment up
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in North Jersey, right by the Calvary Chapel, the large
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Calvary Chapel up in North Jersey.
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Pastor Lloyd Pulley, who's on our radio pastor's at church,
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and they would watch every Sunday these cars come and there
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was an overflow so people would park in the garden apartment
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parking lot. And he said to his wife, this
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guy Nix's name, he says, honey, what's what's going on here?
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Is that like a cult up there or what?
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These people, they get out of their car and they have an aura
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about them. He, the Holy Spirit, was helping
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them to see the glory of God on the faces of these families.
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And it was attracting him, the grace of God on these people
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like us just getting out of their car, walking into church.
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He said, you know, we had to go over there sometime.
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She says, yeah, why not? Why don't we go over there?
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So they went over and the first Sunday there for the first time
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in their lives, he told me this after the business Zoom call.
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He said, I want to talk to you about something off the record.
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I see you're involved. Involved with Calvary Chapel.
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Yeah. And I said, yeah.
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And so then he begins to open up.
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I want to tell you what happened.
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He said he went in. And for the first time in their
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lives, they heard the simple gospel.
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Thanks for joining us on this journey through Acts.
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On today's edition of Living Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark
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shares that one of the most remarkable things about the book
24:06
of Acts is how it shows the disciples transformation.
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The followers of Jesus we meet here are very different from the
24:15
often confused and fearful disciples in the Gospels.
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After Jesus's death and resurrection, and especially
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through the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles experienced
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a profound change in their hearts and boldness.
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Their faith became unwavering, and they move forward with
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courage to spread the gospel despite opposition and hardship.
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Acts reminds us that the same Spirit who empowered them is at
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work in US today, shaping our hearts and giving us strength to
24:48
live boldly for Christ. Living Waters of Grace is a
24:52
ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we invite you to join us
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this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Unit 6B. Visit calvarychapelonline.com
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For more information where you can also join our e-mail list,
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submit prayer requests, give online and download our mobile
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