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Living Waters of Grace 10.22.25 · 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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  Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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  of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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  continues teaching through God's Word.
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  God's still answering prayer, and you might say, well, why was
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  James martyred and Peter was set free?
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  I don't know. God does everything according to
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  the counsel of his own will. Why do some people get healed
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  and other people don't? God does everything after the
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  counsel of his own sovereign will, we conclude.
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  And what happens to Herod? You know you can get mad at
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  whoever it is. It's messing things up in the
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  world right now. One thing to be encouraged, the
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  Bible says vengeance belong to the Lord.
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  Amen. I will repay evil for evil.
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  Every dog has its day, right? When we look out over the
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  landscape of culture right now, it's challenging not to feel
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  completely hopeless. The division we see in our world
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  feels like it's at an all time high.
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  Not to mention the political polarization.
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  We want to see the justice of God rain down.
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  We question why God allows certain things to happen.
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  As you just heard from Pastor Clark, you need to put your
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  trust in God's perfect will as perfect.
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  You can't always see the justice of God, but you can know that
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  beyond the shadow of the doubt, it will come.
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  God will have his day of vengeance now.
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  Here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 11 with today's
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  edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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  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 Anis Anias 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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  A 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 martyr in the, in the
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  New Testament. These people then were
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  persecuted and they travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and
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  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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  and 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
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  believed and 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 Lord
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  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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  Well, 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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  They got saved. Then they began to develop all
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  these friends and all this stuff.
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  And the story goes on. And I said, well, the business
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  conversation was interesting, but this made my day.
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  This is what it's all about, isn't it?
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  As a man in the industry that I'm part of that started the
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  largest manufacturing frame company in Italy many years ago
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  in his early 20s. His name is Leonardo de Vecchio
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  and he rags to Rich's story. He was worth billions of
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  dollars. I have no idea about his
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  spiritual life, never met him, but he's dead now at 87 years
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  old. He died last week, left
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  everything behind. The only thing and I said to
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  Nick, it's going to matter when we leave this world is our
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  relationship with the Lord, whether we had one or not,
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  right? And he said Amen to that.
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  All the sudden the business conversation wasn't important.
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  What was important was our conversation about Jesus and
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  what he's done for us. And so Barnabas is seeing the
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  job that needs to be done. It says when he came and he saw
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  the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all that
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  with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord.
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  And that's what we do here every week, right?
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  Wednesday, Sunday, whenever meetings gather. 1 Encourage
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  each other to keep, keep on keeping on with the Lord, right?
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  We need that encouragement, all of us.
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  And he was a good man. The Bible says about Barnabas,
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  full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people
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  were added to the Lord. I mean, the importance again, we
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  hear over and over and over again the importance of being
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  filled with the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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  And then Barnabas departed for Tarsus in verse 2025 to seek
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  Saul. He's got to find Saul.
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  Because I remember this guy was specially called by God to
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  preach to the Gentiles, and when he had found them in verse 26,
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  he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year
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  they assembled with the church and taught a great many people
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  and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
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  This is the first time they were identified by the unbelievers as
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  Christ's followers, Christians, Jesus freaks, people who belong
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  to the Lord didn't say this is where first, where they were
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  called Catholics or Orthodox or Calvary Chapel or Baptist or
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  Methodist or Luther. We're Christians, for crying out
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  loud. We're Christians, right?
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  We attend this church, but bottom line is we're Christians.
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  And Christians should be able to relate to Christians everywhere,
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  no matter what church you're in or where they're from, right?
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  We're one body, one church, Jesus Christ the head.
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  And so this is the beginning of this ministry of Paul.
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  And in verse 27, in those days, prophets came from Jerusalem to
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  Antioch. A lot of stuff going on in
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  Antioch. Antioch was a Pagan city.
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  It made Las Vegas and New York look calm.
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  Immorality, Pagan worship, prostitution, that's all kind of
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  Pagan rites. A very, very difficult place to
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  be a Christian. Nonetheless, the spirit of God,
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  the power of God, was saving souls in the midst of a society
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  and culture that was godless. They weren't depending on a
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  leader in government as Christians at that time because
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  there was no leader in government to have special favor
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  with, right? I mean, in our country, we have
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  the privilege of electing officials.
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  Hopefully that can be believers. It can make things a little bit
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  easier for us. But right now things aren't real
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  easy for us. But doesn't mean that God isn't
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  in control or God still can't work, or God still can't move,
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  right? We need to depend on that
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  authority, the authority of God on the throne in His Kingdom,
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  that nothing happens outside of His will.
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  And so they had no one to depend upon but the Lord, and they did
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  this ministry and the power of God and salvation and the life
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  of the Holy Spirit was so alive in that early church in this
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  city of Antioch, about 300 miles north of Jerusalem.
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  So this prophet comes up, one of them named Agabus.
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  He stood up and showed by the Spirit there was going to be a
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  great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in
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  the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each
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  according to his ability, determined to send relief to the
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  brethren dwelling in Judea. There was no pressure on tithe
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  or you give this amount or give that.
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  They gave as they were able to and and that's what we do here.
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  We give as we're able for the glory of God and the furtherance
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  of his Kingdom. And they were able to provide
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  relief to these people struggling in the area of Judea.
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  This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of
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  Barnabas and Saul. So this offering was collected,
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  and then Barnabas and Saul were then responsible to take it.
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  So this violence now begins to occur in chapter 12.
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  Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to
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  harass some from the church. Now this is the descendant of
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  Herod the Great who was responsible for having all those
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  babies killed back in the days when Christ was born.
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  This whole family of Herod is evil and wicked and all they
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  want to do is come against the Kingdom of God.
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  And and so he's going to harass some from the church.
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  And what happens verse 2? Then he kills James the brother
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  of John with the sword. This isn't James the brother of
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  Jesus who was head of the church in Jerusalem.
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  This is the James and John whose mother went to Jesus and said,
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  can they sit on the right and left hand side of your Kingdom?
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  And Jesus said in order to to have any kind of experience in
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  the Kingdom that is of some exciting value, you have to
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  suffer much for what it is you believe.
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  And sure enough, they did suffer and James was beheaded, the
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  first apostle that was martyred. And because he saw that it
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  pleased the Jews, Herod saw the Jews were clapping all excited.
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  He wants popularity. He proceeds further to seize
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  Peter also. Now it was during the Days of
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  Unleavened Bread this is. And so when he had arrested him,
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  he put him in prison and delivered him to 4 squads of
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  soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people
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  after Passover. So it's Passover, Peter's
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  probably thinking about what Christ went through again,
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  remembering this, he's in prison.
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  They this time remember before he got out of prison in the 4th
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  chapter, they're thinking this guy's, he's got some tricks, he
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  can get out of prison. We better put more people with
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  him. So, so many hours a day.
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  There would be 4 soldiers. One would be chained to the
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  handcuff and 1:00 on the other side to make sure he wasn't
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  going to get loose. There'd be two by the door to
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  prevent him from escaping. So four people Peter in verse 5
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  was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered
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  to God for him by the church. So we pray, we intercede.
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  We have groups that in Church of pray about every possible thing
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  you can imagine. It comes through the prayer
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  chain. We're we're praying all the
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  time. I know you're praying too for
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  the work of God and the and the movement of God's Spirit.
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  So Peter's in trouble and James, this was martyred and Peter's
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  probably thinking I'm going to be next tomorrow morning.
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  My life is over. And when Herod was about to
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  bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping bound with two
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  chains between two soldiers. And the guards before the door
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  were keeping the prison. So Peter, he's not like
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  obviously uptight or nervous. If it was me, I'd be like, I
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  can't sleep. But Peter was trusting God, no
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  problem sleeping. And he's between these guards,
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  it says, now behold, an Angel of the Lord in verse 7 stood by
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  him. Angel comes in, a light shines
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  in the prison. He struck Peter on the side and
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  raised him up. So Peter had to actually be hit
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  to sort of come to consciousness from his sleep.
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  And he tells him arise quickly and his chains fell off his
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  hands. And no sooner did he stand up
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  miraculously these chains fall off.
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  This is a result of the move of God, the prayers of God's
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  people, the will of God, the purpose of God.
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  Peter's ministry is certainly not over yet.
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  The Angel said to him, Gird yourself up and tie on your
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  sandals. Now the Angel could have
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  obviously made sure everything was put together miraculously,
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  but no, there was some work that Peter had to do.
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  He had to get down and tie his sandals.
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  He probably never thought of forgot about this story, right,
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  this experience. Every time he tied his shoes.
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  I remember when the Angel was telling me to tie my shoes.
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  And so he did. And he said to him, put on your
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  garment and follow me. So the angel's helping, helping
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  them get together there and get ready to go.
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  So he went out and followed him and did not know that what was
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  done by the Angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
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  So I'm sure it was sort of like, is this some kind of like thing
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  I'm thinking has happened? But it really isn't happening.
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  You know, you can have a dream sometimes and you're like, wow,
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  that was amazing. And then you find out it was
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  only a dream. Sometimes you're thankful it was
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  only a dream. Other times you wish it was real
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  because it turned out to be a good, good story, right?
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  So when they go by the 1st and 2nd guard posts, and they come
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  to the iron gate that leads to the city, it opens to them of
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  its own accord. Miraculously this door opens and
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  they went out and went down the street.
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  And immediately Angel departed from him.
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  And when Peter had come to himself in verse 11, he said,
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  Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his Angel and has
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  delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the
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  expectation of the Jewish people.
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  So when he had considered this, he came to the House of Mary,
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  the mother of John. This is the mother of John Mark,
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  who's going to be a missionary to cousin of Barnabas that we'll
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  catch up later on in the weeks ahead, whose surname was Mark,
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  where many were gathered together praying.
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  So there's this prayer meeting going on on behalf of Peters
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  Deliverance. And as Peter knocked at the door
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  of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.
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  And when she recognized Peter's voice because of her gladness,
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  she didn't open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter
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  stood before the gate. She's so blown away and excited.
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  You think she would open the door?
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  Peter can't even get into the prayer meeting for himself.
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  He's still outside and I'm sure he's looking around thinking,
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  man, one of these guards going to know that I'm out of prison,
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  that someone's going to come down the street.
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  Hey, that's a guy that we just arrested, you know, so he's
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  probably paranoid. He's standing at the gate and
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  they they said to her, you are beside yourself, basically.
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  You're crazy, lady. And she kept insisting that it
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  was so. So they said it is his Angel.
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  They think it's just a reflection of who Peter really
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  is, his guardian Angel, whatever.
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  Now Peter continued knocking. I'm sure he was desperate.
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  And when they opened the door and saw him, they were
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  astonished. Isn't that encouraging?
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  You ever pray and God does something and you're just like,
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  you just don't get it. You're, you're almost like, I
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  don't believe this happened. I mean, that's just the way we
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  all are. These are deep prayer warriors
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  here. They're asking God to do a
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  miracle. God does a miracle and they
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  just, they just can't grasp everything that's happening
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  here. They open the door.
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  They're astonished, but motioning to them with his hand,
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  he's telling him keep silent, be quiet.
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  He declares to them how the Lord had brought him out of the
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  prison and said, Go tell these things to James.
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  That's the guy that's leading the church in Jerusalem, not the
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  one that was martyred. And he departed and went to
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  another place. Then, as soon as it was day,
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  there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had
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  become of Peter. But when Herod had searched for
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  him and not found him, he examined the guards and
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  commanded that they should be put to death.
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  That's a serious crime that they've committed, letting Peter
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  get free. And they were all put to death,
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  all 16 of them. And when he went down from Judea
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  to Caesarea and stayed there. So we see all this stuff going
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  on, these wicked rollers, God's doing these miracles in spite of
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  the culture, in spite of the society, in spite of the things
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  not being fair in the world at that time.
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  But God's still answering prayer.
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  And you might say, well, why was James martyr and Peter was set
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  free? I don't know.
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  God does everything according to the counsel of his own will.
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  Why do some people get healed and other people don't?
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  God does everything after the counsel of his own sovereign
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  will, we conclude. And what happens to Herod?
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  You know you can get mad at whoever it is.
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  It's messing things up in the world right now.
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  One thing, be encouraged. The Bible says vengeance belongs
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  to the Lord. Amen.
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  How will we pay evil for evil? Every dog has its day right now.
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  Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre inside and in
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  verse 20. But they came to him with 1
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  accord, and having made Blastus, the King's personal aid, their
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  friend, they asked for peace because their country was
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  supplied with food by the King's country.
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  So everybody's want to kiss up to this terrible leaders just so
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  they can have their food and prosperity, whatever.
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  So on a set day, Herod arrayed in royal peril.
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  He's sitting up there like a big shot with all his robes and, and
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  regalia. He's sitting on the throne and
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  they're giving ovate oration to him how great he is and what is
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  this and that? I mean, it's disgusting, right?
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  And the people kept shouting the voice of a God and not a man.
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  So they're attributing Herod as being like a God, the voice of a
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  God and not of a man. Then immediately, and this is
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  how God deals with judgment, an Angel of the Lord struck him
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  because he did not give glory to God.
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  What's going to happen to those in our own government?
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  One day there will be a judgement.
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  If it isn't in this world, it will definitely be in the next.
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  No one's going to get away with this godless agenda and this
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  immoral in the face of God. And look what's happening in our
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  country. But they're not going to get
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  away with it. God's going to be faithful.
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  And this is what, you know, what would happen if this happened
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  right now in Washington? I don't know, man.
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  It would be pretty exciting. I think immediately an Angel
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  Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God, and he
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  was eaten by worms and died. That's so gross, isn't it?
• 22:52
  Like, like worms are coming out of him, man.
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  It's like yuck. Yeah, he's ugly.
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  You know, this. I don't want to think.
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  I don't want to have lunch next after reading that but what was
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  beautiful in verse 24 it says, but the word of God grew and
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  multiplied. Jesus said he will build his
• 23:11
  church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
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  How exciting the book of Acts is.
• 23:17
  It's a living book. The Lord is still moving by his
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  spirit. A man in a prison.
• 23:22
  Here's Grace FM other prisoners here in Grace M passing notes
• 23:27
  talking about the Lord pretty much all day long listening to
• 23:32
  certain teachers on there being encouraged.
• 23:35
  Someone told me this morning they turned it on this and then
• 23:39
  it happened to hear a thing about family and she said it was
• 23:41
  really encouraging because she wants her family to be a family
• 23:44
  that walks with God and be blessed by by God.
• 23:47
  You turn that thing on any time of day and you're going to be
• 23:50
  blessed. You're going to hear something
• 23:51
  that's going to encourage you. The Word of God.
• 23:54
  The word of God. Amen.
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  We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living
• 24:00
  Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through
• 24:03
  the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the
• 24:06
  history of the early church immediately after Jesus's
• 24:10
  ascension. It gives us a front row seat to
• 24:13
  how the Gospel began to move outwards, starting in Jerusalem
• 24:17
  and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire.
• 24:20
  In just three decades, a small group of frightened ordinary
• 24:24
  believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement that
• 24:27
  transformed the known world. Acts is not just a history
• 24:32
  lesson. It's a reminder of what God can
• 24:34
  do when His people are surrendered, obedient and filled
• 24:38
  with the Holy Spirit. Their perseverance still
• 24:41
  inspires us today. May we follow their example and
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  live faithfully for Christ in our own time.
• 24:49
  We hope today's message encouraged you.
• 24:51
  Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel,
• 24:55
  Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
• 24:58
  area, we'd love to have you join us in person.
• 25:01
  Our Sunday service begins at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
• 25:06
  Unit 6B. Be sure to visit
• 25:09
  calvarychapelonline.com to confirm times and learn more.
• 25:14
  If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
• 25:17
  on the new 91.7 frequency. Please pray about supporting
• 25:22
  this outreach. Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO
• 25:26
  Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. Stay connected through Facebook,
• 25:33
  YouTube, or our Calvary Chapel Westmoreland app.
• 25:37
  Join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, and give online
• 25:42
  all at calvarychapelonline.com. Thank you for tuning in and
• 25:47
  spending this time in God's Word.
• 25:48
  Be sure to join us again for Living Waters of Grace.