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Living Waters of Grace, March 25, 2026 · 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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Because they were prevented by death from continuing.
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But he, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable
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priesthood. Therefore he is able to save to
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the uttermost those who come to God through him.
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Since He always lives to make intercession for them, He's able
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to save to the uttermost those who come to Him, mediating on
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our behalf, praying to the Father on behalf of us, and
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we're taught to do what He does. Did you know that Jesus is
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praying for you right now? The Bible is clear.
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Jesus is making intercession, which is just a fancy word for
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praying right now. As you hear the sound of my
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voice, as you listen to Pastor Clark teach through the 8th
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chapter of the Book of Revelation, Jesus is praying for
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you. This is a wonderful and life
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giving truth that should impact your day-to-day life.
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Now this should also stir you to pray for others, to lift others
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into the presence of Jesus so that they may experience the
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deep peace of Christ. Now here's Pastor Clark in
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Revelation Chapter 8 with today's edition of Living Waters
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of Grace. Heavens worship is it's
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completely unlike anything that any of us have ever touched or
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experienced, believe me. And so it says that there's
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silence in the midst of this period that John is about to
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encounter. The sound is deafening.
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The silence is deafening because what's about to transpire on the
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face of the earth is horrendous, but also majestic in the sense
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that as Christ has opened those seals for the first time in the
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history of the universe, he has conveyed his full plan to all
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the angelic hosts. And they're speechless.
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They're astounded at what he has in store, not only in the sense
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of his anger and his wrath toward an unbelieving and
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ungodly world, but his plan for the future of his Church, the
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bride of Jesus Christ. So we see in verse one the
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mention of silence. We see in verse 2 the mention of
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musical instruments, trumpets. We see in verse 3 and 4 the
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offering of incense. And what's interesting is I
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don't know about you, but I've been in a lot of different kind
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of worship situations. I've been in like really crazy
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stuff where people are jumping around and running around and
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dislike doing all kind of wild stuff.
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And I've been in real conservative type of worship
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experiences. I've experienced liturgical
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worship experiences, experience, obviously Calvary Chapel kind of
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worship experiences. But as good as we might think
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our worship is, and it is good, we have a godly worship leader
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and team. These guys love the Lord and
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give their hearts to serve Christ fully and worship every
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week. But we fall short, don't we?
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We all fall short of understanding what true worship
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is. It's not an emotion or a high,
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although we can get kind of like joy, obviously, when we think
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about the greatness of God and worship him.
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But it's much deeper than that. And so we're getting a glimpse
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into heaven. Now as Protestants and as a New
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Testament Christians, we have an interesting perspective on how
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we look at the development of historical worship from the age
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of the Tabernacle, right, in the temple in the Old Testament,
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right? And we don't see any visible
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temple or Tabernacle right now in our day and age, right?
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But it's going to be rebuilt. The sacrifices will begin to
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continue during that time of the Tribulation.
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The Antichrist will set himself up in the temple as God, the
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abomination, the desolation, and a lot of very, very interesting
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things are going to occur. Even now in Israel.
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There is plans for the structure to build the the robes are being
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developed. The Sacramento aspect of how the
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Jewish nation connected and worshiped with God will be
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reinstituted. And but what I find fascinating
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is, is that from God's perspective, that never ended,
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right? It's still going on, even though
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there is no physical temple or Tabernacle on the earth right
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now in the sense of the way it was in Israel with the ark of
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the covenant and that kind of stuff.
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In heaven right now, there is this element of worship that
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most of us have never, ever encountered, But one day we
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will. And some people might say, I
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don't like the smell of incense. Some people get sick, get
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headaches when there's incense. But in heaven, the good news is
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when we're there, we won't have the the same kind of physical
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maladies. And incense will be awesome
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because it's like the most fragrant of perfumes and it it
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pleases God. He has it in his throne room
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24/7 throughout all eternity. And the incense represents the
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prayers of the Saints. We'll get into that in a minute.
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But in the Tabernacle or in the temple, there was a golden
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altar, different types of altars in the midst of the temple, the
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Tabernacle. But this specific altar was
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right before the veil entering into the Holy of Holies.
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And the responsibility of the temple priest was to burn
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incense because it represented the prayers of the nation of
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Israel and in heaven. Now, as we read, as John is
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teaching us, that this incense is representative of the prayers
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of Saints, believers throughout the course of human history.
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And so we see in verse one this silence.
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Again, just going back to this half hour of silence, it's
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dramatically indicating the profound awe at the opening of
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the 7th seal. It's no wonder that the Sarah
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from and Sheriff from can't help but to continually proclaim,
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holy, holy art thou, O God, if we were there, that's going to
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be our description. What else can we say?
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Holy, holy, holy, aren't you, O God.
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And Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 20, it says, but the Lord is in
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his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
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before him. God enjoys silence.
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We don't. We have to have noise all the
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time. We always have to have some kind
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of media on iPod, TV, headphones, music.
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I mean, the more noise, the more happy we seem to be at times.
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But you take a time of silence and that makes a lot of people
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uncomfortable. That's why prayer is so
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difficult at times, because it is a time of silence and we're
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before God and it's just our thoughts and our heart laid bare
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before Him. And sometimes that makes us a
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little awkward because we're not used to having silence.
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But God says that he's in His holy temple and it's pleasing to
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him that the earth would be silent before him.
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In Zephaniah chapter one, verse 7, it says be silent in presence
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of the Lord God for the day of the Lord is at hand.
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For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and he's invited his
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guests. Be silent in the presence of the
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Lord. And again, it's something that
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sometimes we're not accustomed to.
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Or you get with some people and you're going to pray and this
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person prays and that person's that person prays.
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And then all of a sudden there's a period of silence and, and
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sometimes people like restless, well, like who's going to pray
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next? Or how long will this silence
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last? Does that mean we're done or is
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it over? But I think from God's heart,
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the silence represents just the beginning of our being open to
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what it is that He wants to say to us, more so than what we
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think we need to say to God. In Zechariah chapter 2, verse
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13, it says be silent all flesh before the Lord, for he is
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aroused from his holy habitation.
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Be silent, all flesh before the Lord, the one that you're all
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familiar with. Psalm 4610 Be still and know
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that I am God. I will be exalted among the
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nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
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And I think it's, it's healthy at times when we come together
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as as Christians and, and pray even on Thursdays, it isn't so
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much what we're saying, it's what we're hearing, right?
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Because so often our prayers are circular.
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Lord bless me, mine, you know, me, myself and I or bless my
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people or my family or my job or my finance.
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I mean, sometimes our prayers are like really, really boring.
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God hears him and he loves us. He's merciful.
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But like you realize you're saying the same thing all the
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time. You realize, like I've answered
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like the majority of those things, but you're still asking
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me and I've already done it. I mean, do you have any capacity
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to pray outside your comfort zone, to pray for people that
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you don't know or situations that you're normally not
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interested in? You have the heart to let me put
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my heart in there to expand your awareness of what it is I
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specifically want you to pray about right now at this time and
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this day and this age. And verse 2 of Revelation 8, we
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see these 7 angels. I saw 7 angels who stand before
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God, and to them are given the seven trumpets.
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These bodily powers that Victoria so beautifully sung
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about represent the Old Testament priests who also
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sounded the trumpets during the temple worship.
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You know, sometimes when we read the New Testament and the Book
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of Revelation and disconnect it from the roots of what worship
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has been about since the beginning of time, we, we
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unfortunately distort really what the meaning is or we, we
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pull things unfortunately sometimes out of context.
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But in Joshua chapter 6, verse 13, it refers to these guys.
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It says the seven priests bearing 7 trumpets of Ram's
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horns before the ark of the Lord went on and continually and blew
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the trumpets. And you remember what happened
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eventually as a result of blowing those trumpets, right?
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The walls fell down, God moved miraculously.
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First Chronicles chapter 16, verse 6.
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Benanaya and Jehaziel, the priest regularly blew the
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trumpets before the Ark of the Covenant of God.
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Psalm 96, Six, honor and majesty are before him.
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Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
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So we see this view of heaven of of music, right?
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Where's the guitars? Now there is stringed
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instruments you'll read about in Revelation, but in this
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instance, there's trumpets and verse 3.
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This is when it gets interesting.
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Then another Angel having a golden censor came and stood at
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the altar. He was given much incense that
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he should offer it with the prayers of all the Saints upon
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the golden altar which was before the throne.
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Much incense is present in heaven, much incense, and it's
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offered along with the prayers of the Saints.
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If you go back to chapter 5 of Revelation verse 8, it says now
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when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and
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the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and
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golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the
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Saints. Psalm 141 two says, let my
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prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my
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hands as the evening sacrifice. I mean the beauty of how God
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designed worship for Himself. It's not about us.
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We're given the privilege to worship Him.
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But whenever we can worship Him the way He has orchestrated and
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desired, what does that do to His heart?
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Let my prayer be set before you. Psalm 141.
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Two as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening
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sacrifice. So we see in Revelation that
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incense is the visible sign of the prayers of all the people.
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Symbolism is important. The dove represents the Holy
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Spirit. The cross represents the
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crucifixion, the death of burial and resurrection of Christ.
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Baptism. Immersion is a sign of dying to
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our sin and coming out as new people, new life, the Lord's
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Supper that we take every week. The bread represents Christ's
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body. The cup represents His blood.
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God is not making this stuff up as He goes along.
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These are specific things He has put in place that we might truly
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know how to worship Him. You remember in the Old
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Testament when those priests took strange license to attempt
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to worship God with strange fire and strange incense?
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It wasn't pleasing to Him. We have to think about our own
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worship before him. Lord, does this really please
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you today so much worship today. And I'll tell you guys and and
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these guys work real hard to pick the songs that are about
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God to God for God, not songs that are you could sing to your
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girlfriend or your wife, you know that are just like you were
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these words. What do they mean but songs that
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are doctrinally correct and pure and magnify the glory of of God
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in Malachi chapter one, verse 11, it's interesting.
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It says for from the rising of the sun even to its going down.
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That's that's a picture of eternity.
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My name shall be great among the Gentiles and every place incense
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shall be offered to my name for my name shall be great among the
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nations, says the Lord of hosts. He says in every place, in every
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place. Incense is a beautiful gift that
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was given to our Lord at His birthright.
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Incense, frankincense and myrrh were given to Him at His birth
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and we see as we reflect on the Jewish temple, the worship its
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continuation in heaven. I love this section in Luke
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chapter one, verse 9 through 11. According to the custom of the
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priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense.
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This is Zacharias as he's doing his responsibility before the
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altar of God and the Angel of God is speaking to the family
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that Elizabeth is going to have a child and it's an
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impossibility because she's been barren.
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How in the world can this happen and he's burning the incense and
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he he went into the temple of the Lord and the whole multitude
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of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense
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again the the the community when the prayers of the the incense
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was the representation that we now are lifting up the
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fragrance. Our prayers are like fragrance
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unto God. And an Angel of the Lord
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appeared to him to Zacharias standing on the right side of
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the altar of incense, A literal physical altar that is not any
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on earth at the time, but will also be in heaven.
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We're seeing John talk about it. So the worship and revelation is
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very different from ours, isn't it?
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Completely different from ours? And verse 4, it talks about the
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smoke of the incense with the prayers that are ascending
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before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense with the prayers
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that ascends. Saints ascended before God from
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the angel's hand. So the Angel has a sensor that's
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coals fire to burn the incense, and he's sensing that altar
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before God's throne. And God immediately sees that as
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the prayers of his people growing up into heaven from all
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the earth throughout all time, and that he has our prayers in
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bowls. I, I can't imagine the size of
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those bowls, that all the prayers of every person and
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every broken heart throughout all time has never been dumped
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out. And that one day all our prayers
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are going to be answered. And some prayers we're waiting
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for and waiting for, we think, well, God, did you miss that one
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or wasn't it important to God? Every prayer of his children is
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priceless, so priceless that he stores them all in these bowls.
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And verse 5, we see the Angel. He takes the sensor, fills it
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with fire from the altar, and he throws it to the earth.
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And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings and
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earthquake. The casting of this sensor to
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earth shows the prayers of the Saints in the sense of how long,
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Lord will it be till you bring righteousness, not vengeance on
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our part? Lord, I hope you get that person
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that really messed me up in my life years ago.
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I hope you get even with that dirtbag and that, you know,
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whatever. And we're just like, you know,
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no, it's not about that. It's God's righteousness that
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we're waiting to be completely satisfied.
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If you look at Revelation chapter 6, we were there a few
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weeks ago, 9:00 and 11:00. This is the heart of what is
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happening. When He opens the 5th seal.
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I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for
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the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
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And they crowd with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord,
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holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those
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who dwell on the earth. Then a white robe was given to
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each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a
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little while longer, until both the number of the fellow
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servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were,
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was completed. And so the the the prayer for us
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is OK. Lord, how long will these things
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occur on earth where mankind refuses to acknowledge your
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existence? Where we feel as countries that
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we don't need God, that we want to take down the crosses in
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public places. We want to eliminate the prayers
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from our Senate and our House and our government.
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We want to change the name of our country to something that is
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completely independent of God, who He is.
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You know, I don't make this stuff up.
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I have no political agenda. I hope you sense that when I
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preach, I'm not lifting up the Republican or Democratic Party,
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but the theocratic government of God.
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And God's justice is clearly revealed in the Scripture for
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what he says is right and what he says is wrong.
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And I don't care what ideology we have politically, if our
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ideology does not line up with God's intention, then we're to
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be judged. And we're the ones that are
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responsible for communicating what is true in our nation.
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The freedom of religion that we have the precious right to have
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in our country that is slowly being dismantled and we're not
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even clearly aware of it. The casting of the center to
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earth. Finally, the one who has the
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right to bring judgement. Casts that down and it
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represents the fire of God coming from heaven and the
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beginning of the second period of the tribulation, the
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devastation upon the earth begins to be poured out.
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The thunderings, the earthquakes signify the judgment of God and
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it is eminent at this point prior to, and we'll get into the
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rest of the chapter next week. Next week we'll get into the
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more radical aspects of the development of this difficult
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time on the earth. But then I think about this
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silence in heaven for half an hour.
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And if you pick up nothing from the sermon up until this point,
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think about this. This is a prophetic revelation
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that he's been given a long time ago.
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He's seen this. So really, the half hour is like
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a really long time for all of us right now.
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Christ is not willing that any should perish, but that all
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should should come to repentance, right?
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So from this vision of God's impending justice and wrath
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coming out upon the earth, we've had all these years to scope
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this landscape out and have an opportunity to let people know
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that today is a day of salvation.
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It isn't too late to repent. You can still come to Christ.
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You can still be saved. All the people we love and care
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about, it's not too late yet, but you don't want them to be on
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this earth at the end of that half hour time period which we
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still have time. In verse 3, as we begin to
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conclude, there is this other Angel, this other Angel, another
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Angel. It's very interesting how this,
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this angelic being is depicted. He came and he stood at the
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altar of incense and offered prayers up to the throne of God,
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the ministry of intercession, the one whoever lives to make
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intercession before the throne of God.
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Night and day for who? For you and me.
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Your prayers for me are valued, and I trust my prayers for you
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like we pray for you guys. But there is one who is ever
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living to make intercession before the throne of the Father,
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night and day. He does not sleep, He does not
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become weary. He's constantly praying for the
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things that are on your hearts, guys and gals, the ministry of
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intercession. And we intercede, as Ron talked
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about on Thursday nights. What we're doing is we're
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lifting our own prayers up before the Father on behalf of
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one another and the person we believe that this Angel
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represents as Jesus Christ himself.
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For it says in Hebrews 924 For Christ has not entered the holy
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place made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into
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heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
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And Hebrews Chapter 7, verse 23 and 24 also there were many
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priests, because they were prevented by death from
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continuing. But He, because he continues
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forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
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Therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to
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God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for
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them. He's able to save to the
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uttermost those who come to Him. He's mediating on our behalf,
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praying to the Father on behalf of us, and we're taught to do
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what He does, to pray to the Father on behalf of one another.
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It's a privilege to be given the opportunity to stand in a place
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of intercession. It's the greatest ministry of
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all because that's what our Savior does 24/7, right?
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He's interceding before the throne for you and me.
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This has been Living Waters of Grace with Pastor Clark.
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We're going through the challenging and also intriguing
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Book of Revelation. Whether you're a fan of reading
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ahead in books of fiction, there's such a benefit to
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reading ahead in the Bible to read about how it all ends.
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But in an interesting turn of events, the Book of Revelation
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is not really the end, but rather the beginning.
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It's the end of life as we know it here on earth.
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But there's so much to look forward to for what comes after
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all the judgment of the earth and those who reject God.
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There's a lot to work through, and it can be heartbreaking to
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read through the intense judgments and wrath that will
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come on those who hate God with all their might.
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The thing is, God has given chance upon chance to these
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people. They don't want it.
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So the outcome is that there are judgments and consequences for
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those who've rejected the good news and the gift of salvation
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that's offered through Jesus's death and resurrection.
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Are you one who has heard about these things but doesn't really
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want it because you want to live life on your terms?
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Trust me, living for Jesus is so much better.
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That doesn't mean it will be easy, but as you listen and read
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through Revelation with us, you'll come to a stark
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realization that you don't want to be on earth when the
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apocalypse happens. So check out Calvary Chapel
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online.com to learn how to come to a saving grace through faith
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that will allow you to be with Jesus for eternity.
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We'd also love to meet you in person at Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh
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St. Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.
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This has been living waters of Grace.