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Living Waters of Grace 10.03.25 · 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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  In times of persecution and church history, that's when the
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  church gets hot. That's when it separates the
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  chaff from the wheat, the true from the false.
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  China has been under persecution forever, it seems, and they're
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  one of the most on fire nations in the world in regard to
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  underground Christianity. And many of them are put in
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  prison forever once they're caught sharing the Gospel of
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  Christ. But it doesn't stop the people.
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  So whenever Stephen was martyred, they were dispersed,
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  and then the word began to go out into the rest of the world.
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  There are dozens of times in the Bible where God takes an evil
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  action and turns it around for good.
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  In today's message, Pastor Clark teaches us about the story of
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  Stephen, the first person to be martyred because of their faith
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  in Jesus. While Stephen didn't know what
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  was going to happen after his death, he knew that something
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  great awaited him as he met Jesus face to face in heaven.
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  And it was Stephen's death that helped ignite the gospel fire as
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  it spread from Jerusalem out into the entire world.
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  Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 7 as he begins his
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  message. Jewish history began with
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  Abraham. Let's get into the word.
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  We are in the book of the Acts, Acts Chapter 7 today.
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  And I just wanted to give a little background on this guy by
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  the name of Steven who were studying about the day.
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  Steven, if you remember, was one of the men who were chosen to
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  help serve the widow's ministry and provide food for people in
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  the early church that needed help, sort of like the welfare
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  thing at the beginning of the church age.
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  He was a man who is full of the Holy Spirit.
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  He was chosen by the Lord to not any serve physically, but also
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  spiritually. I want to read starting with
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  verse 8 of chapter 6, leading into what we're going to talk
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  about the day in Chapter 7. And Steven, full of faith and
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  power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
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  Then there arose some from what is called the synagogue of the
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  Freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from
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  Celestia and Asia disputing with Stephen, and they were not able
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  to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
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  So in other words, this man had an anointing on him.
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  He spoke by the power of the Spirit of God.
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  And even if they didn't like what he said or didn't agree
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  with what he said, they were all open to understanding that he
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  was giving them something that they had never really probably
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  thought too much about. And so then they secretly
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  induced men to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous
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  words against Moses and God, and they stirred up the people and
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  the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized him,
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  and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses
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  who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words
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  against this holy place in the law.
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  For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy
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  this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to
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  us. And all who sat in the council
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  look steadfastly at him, saw his face as a face of an Angel.
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  So there's this lie going around that he's teaching things that
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  aren't true from the Bible. The Old Testament, at that time,
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  the New Testament wasn't written.
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  They were saying that Jesus was going to destroy the temple
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  versus understanding that Jesus was talking about himself being
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  the true temple of the living God and that his body would be
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  crucified, he would be buried, and he were raised again the
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  third day. That's what Jesus was meant when
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  he said this temple will be destroyed in three days.
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  It will be raised up again. Also, the law that Moses
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  brought, we're in a transition. When the church started and the
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  gospel came, it wasn't that the 10 commandments and the law
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  weren't significant anymore, but God never intended anybody to
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  try to be justified by obedience to the 10 commandments.
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  If you had to present yourself before God based upon perfectly
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  following the 10 commandments, and because you did that, you
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  would be accepted into heaven, none of us would be able to get
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  into heaven because all of us have broken the law, the 10
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  commandments. And so all these things are
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  manipulated by these people that were basically raised up to stir
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  up contention amidst the early church.
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  And so Stephen is accused of these various untruths.
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  Nonetheless, he continues and what it is God's called him to
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  do. Now this guy had a very short
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  term ministry. He will be, as we study this
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  chapter, the first martyr of the New Testament church.
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  He's blood was shed because of his faith in Jesus Christ.
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  Since that time, millions of people have been martyred all
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  across the planet. And to this day, people are
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  still being martyred for their faith and hassled because
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  they're just sharing the good news of the gospel.
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  Steven also was from a Greek culture, Greek background.
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  He wasn't the Hebrew of Hebrew, so to speak.
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  He was Jewish, but he was impacted by more the the Greek
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  culture than he was the Hebrew culture.
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  So he was sort of seen as maybe an outsider to those who led in
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  the synagogues and, and, you know, were responsible for
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  leading the nation of Israel and Judeo values.
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  We're also in a transition in the sense that we're going from
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  the emphasis of law to grace. Now, grace is in the old
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  covenant. Grace is in the Old Testament.
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  Again, God never said that anybody would be justified by
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  the works of the law, but the law was given so that man would
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  know that he is a Sinner. And so when we're presented with
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  the commandments and the and the law, it all it does is show us
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  that we're in need of a Savior, that we're sinners and that we
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  can't get to heaven by trying to obey the law, even though we
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  want to live and, and follow obviously the truths of the 10
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  commandments. They're all true and good and
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  they're righteous and they're holy, but none of us can
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  unfortunately do it perfectly right.
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  Only one could fulfill the law, and that was Jesus Christ.
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  And so Stephen also is the bridge between the ministry of
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  Peter and Paul because we'll find out as we study this and
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  later on, Paul is one of the people that are accusing Stephen
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  of blasphemy at this particular time.
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  Saul of Tarsus, who became eventually the apostle Paul.
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  Fascinating how Stephen was the God that the Lord God used to
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  begin to develop this new movement of Christianity.
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  When the persecution came in the early church, it was necessary
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  because they were hanging out in Jerusalem and they had done a
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  great job getting the gospel out in Jerusalem.
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  A matter of fact, they were accused of filling the city with
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  the word of Christ, the gospel of Christ.
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  And so now the Lord knows that it has to go into not any
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  Jerusalem, but Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the
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  earth in times of persecution and church history.
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  That's when the church gets hot. That's when it separates the
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  chaff from the wheat, the true from the false.
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  China has been under persecution forever, it seems, and they're
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  one of the most on fire nations in the world in regard to
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  underground Christianity. And many of them are put in
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  prison forever once they're caught sharing the gospel of
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  Christ. But it doesn't stop the people.
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  So whenever Stephen was martyred, they were dispersed
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  and then the word began to go out to the rest of the world.
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  So everything that happens in this sermon today that Stephen
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  is going to give us in Chapter 7 is all about the sovereignty of
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  God and how he has everything under control, even when maybe
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  we don't think things are under control.
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  And that everything that happens in history, in biblical history
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  was always for a purpose, never a mistake made.
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  No one missing the point. God had a directive, He put it
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  in place. It was us that refused to accept
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  the direction of God and we formed our own opinions and not
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  wanting to hear from the truth of the word of God as the Jewish
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  people didn't want to hear really the truth.
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  And so we're going to read about the history here.
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  It starts out and verse one, the high priest said to him, are
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  these things. So basically, Stephen, are you
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  stirring up all these problems? Are you blaspheming our temple
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  and blaspheming Moses? And he said this is an
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  opportunity now for him to speak up.
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  He said, brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory
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  appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia
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  before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, get out of your
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  country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will
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  show you. What's interesting here is that
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  Abraham and I don't know how much you've thought about these
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  things. I was on vacation back in April
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  and I was, I was going to get breakfast and I heard a, a short
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  message by a messianic Christian guy, Jewish guy, And he was
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  explaining that in the beginning there wasn't this division of
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  Jew and Gentile. Basically, when God created the
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  world, we're all his creation and we all fell.
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  And Paul talks about later on in the in the New Testament that
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  there's neither Jew nor Gentile bond or free or male or female.
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  In other words, like it isn't like people groups or skin color
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  or ethnic origin or being born a man or a woman is insignificant.
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  These are all part of God's beautiful creation, right?
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  But he never holds up one higher than the other.
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  He never says that the man's more important than the woman or
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  this nation is better than that nation.
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  I mean, we're all fallen and we need a savior.
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  So he has this incredible plan. And so the guys talking, he says
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  Abraham was a Gentile and that that blew my mind because I
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  never like even conceived that that he was a Gentile.
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  He was chosen by God to start this nation, Israel, to begin to
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  develop his plan with the chosen people group, to have the law
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  and the prophets to bring the Messianic sea to fruition
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  through the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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  And so then he instituted the covenant between him and God.
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  Abraham, first he said, through you all the nations of the earth
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  will be blessed. And then God designed this
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  procedure called circumcision. And that's a whole another
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  subject for another time. But all these things were
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  ordained by God to put in a people group to send the message
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  of the gospel to humanity. Fascinating.
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  So Abraham, he's this guy, this normal guy.
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  And God favored him and, and chose him to be this one who
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  would be the first Jewish, this person basically to start this
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  nation called Israel didn't exist prior to this calling out
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  of God to Abraham, but it was in the plan of God before the
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  foundation of the earth. So whenever the we, we talk
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  about God's chosen people, it wasn't that they were better
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  than the Gentile, but God had to choose a people group to get us
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  to where we are today in regard to the gospel and Christianity.
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  And so he tells Abraham what to do.
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  Get out from your relatives. Come to the land and I'll show
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  you. So he comes out of the land of
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  the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran.
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  And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this
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  land in which you now dwelt, which is the promised land.
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  He's talking to all these people in Jerusalem right now.
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  What's also interesting, God starts when he calls us in a
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  very basic way. It's it's it's somewhat not
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  totally clear when we're called by God to do some kind of
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  ministry or some kind of calling.
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  We just step up in faith and we be obedient to what God's put on
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  our heart. So this is what Abraham did, but
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  it's interesting. God had a plan for him, you
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  know, beyond waiting to his dad died, but he waited.
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  His father died and there was no problem with that.
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  God honored that, but it wasn't like immediately everything came
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  into clarity for him. And so he goes from there.
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  After his dad dies, he moves him to this land in which you now
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  dwell. And God gave him no inheritance
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  in it, not even enough to set his foot on.
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  What's interesting is that Abraham was the father of all
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  this blessing that would come to Israel and to us as New Covenant
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  believers. The seed of Abraham impacted us
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  too. It's it's the remnant, it's the
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  people of God from the beginning of time until the end of time
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  when the world is no more as we know it.
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  And so he's speaking to Abraham about this big plan of this
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  promised land. Now, Abraham never was given
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  anything personally. The only ground he had was hit
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  with the burial plot he bought to bury Sarah in.
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  It's probably, you know, 6 by 6 feet or something.
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  That was all that he had entitlement to.
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  But everything was futuristic here and what God was promising
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  to Abraham, So and God gave him no inheritance in it, not even
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  enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no
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  child and Abraham waited a long time right before his son was
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  born Isaac remember Sarah and him they she was not fertile and
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  they got impatient and so Hagar came along and then Ishmael was
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  born and then you had that Pagan race.
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  It was developed that pretty much a symbolic of Islam in the
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  in the Mideast that came out of the seat of a Vishnail.
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  But Abraham and Sarah, just like you and I at times aren't
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  patient with God. We get ahead of God.
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  We want to take matters in our own hands.
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  We want to I think I got a better way.
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  I got a better idea, Lord. And so we end up messing things
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  up, right? Because, you know, he, he was
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  faithful to, to his promise. And eventually he told them that
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  they were going to have a child. They thought it was ridiculous
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  because they were too old to to be able to do this anymore.
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  But the Lord, you know, whenever he says he's going to do
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  something, he's going to do it regardless of the the
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  limitations of human ability, medical science.
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  And so God promises to do something here.
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  Even when Abraham didn't have a child yet, he promised to give
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  it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him.
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  But God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a
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  foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and
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  oppress them for 400 years. So not any was he given that the
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  picture of this promise in his covenant, but also the reality
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  that because of Israel's disobedience to what it was, a
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  goddess established that they would go into captivity for 400
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  years, very difficult. They wouldn't have freedom to
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  move about like you and I have in this country.
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  They were isolated and treated as slaves for many years and
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  abused and taken advantage of. Nonetheless, this was again the
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  part of the plan. So this bondage lasted all this
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  time, and the nation to whom they will be in bondage, God
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  says, I will judge, says God. And after that they shall come
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  out and serve me in this place. So then God had this plan for
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  Moses, which we'll look at here in a minute.
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  So he's giving all this history of what God has done since the
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  beginning of time to bring the reality to the world that Jesus
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  Christ truly is the Messiah. So he gave him the covenant of
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  circumcision. And so Abraham begot Isaac and
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  circumcised him on the 8th day. And Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob
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  begot the 12 patriarchs. So this is like the history of
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  this nation now beginning to develop and how God's going to
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  work through the the Jewish people.
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  The 8th day is significant too, because that's when it's safe
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  medically to do circumcision because the blood's able to be
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  clotted. Everything was according to the
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  to the plan of God. And so the patriarchs now we're
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  looking at next in Egypt, verse 9, and the patriarchs becoming
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  envious sold Joseph into Egypt so that we hear that the fathers
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  are the patriarchs of the nation of Israel.
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  These guys were scoundrels. They were jealous of their
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  brother Joseph and they had him arrested.
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  They basically didn't care if he got killed or not.
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  They threw him into a pit and he was taken to be a slave and in
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  Egypt's place and he went through a lot of adversity and
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  difficulty because of his so-called godly brothers.
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  But God was with him. No matter what happened in life,
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  what happens in your life, what happens in biblical history, we
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  have to understand if we belong to God, God is always with us,
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  right? He'll never leave us or forsake
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  us. Sometimes we feel feel like
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  we're alone. Sometimes we feel like he, he
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  doesn't care. He's not with us or he's not
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  watching out for us. God is always watching out for
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  us, always caring, always listening to our cries.
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  But God was with him, and he delivered him out of all his
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  troubles. It doesn't say he delivered him
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  out of some of his troubles. He delivered him out of all his
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  troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of
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  Pharaoh, king of Egypt, And he made him governor over Egypt and
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  all his house. Now a famine in a great trouble
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  came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers
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  found those substance. There was nothing to eat.
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  And when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out
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  our fathers. That's the brothers of, of
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  Joseph 1st. And the second time Joseph was
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  made known to his brothers, the first time they went down, they
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  didn't know that their brother was the one second in command to
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  Pharaoh, but they'd sure found out the second time.
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  And when Jacob heard that there was no grain in Egypt, he sent
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  the father's first. And the second time Joseph was
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  made known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to
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  the Pharaoh. So Pharaoh said, hey, bring your
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  whole family down. I want to meet them and bless
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  them and take care of them. So Joseph sent and called his
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  father Jacob and all his relatives to him, 75 people.
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  So Jacob went down to Egypt and he died, he and our fathers, and
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  they were carried back to Shechem and laid in in the tomb
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  that Abraham bought for the sum of money from the sons of Hamor,
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  the father of Shechem. So here we are in this beautiful
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  arrangement of Joseph being in this place at this time to take
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  care of the the Jewish people during the famine.
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  Well, what happened was eventually Joseph passed on, the
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  new Pharaoh came on the scene, had no connection with the
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  people, the nation of Israel. And so the persecution then
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  began to occur again. The difficulty, the enslavement.
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  You remember the children of Israel in bondage.
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  You watch the movie, I'm sure 10 Commandments and saw Moses open
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  up the water and all that. Well, you saw the Red Sea, but
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  you saw how the people were being beaten and slaughtered
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  because they weren't working hard enough for fast enough.
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  And and this is a wicked, wicked leadership at the time.
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  And so God delivers Israel by Moses.
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  We'll we'll study this little section now.
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  And this is all building up to Steven really clearly helping
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  these Jewish people that think they're so religious that
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  they're missing the whole point when they rejected Christ and
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  had him crucified. But when the time of the promise
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  drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and
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  multiplied in Egypt. I mean, this people group is
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  growing and growing, multiplying, growing, truly
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  being fruitful and multiplying till another king arose who did
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  not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously
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  with our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them
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  expose their babies. Remember they they were told
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  they were going to kill the the first born males.
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  All that kind of stuff, making them expose.
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  Babies so they might not live. At this time Moses was born and
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  was well pleasing to God, and he was brought up in his father's
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  house for three months. But when he was set out,
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  Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as our own
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  son. And Moses was learned in all the
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  wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in the words of deeds.
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  So God spared Moses like his mother, put him in that little
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  basket in the bull rushes, and put him in the water.
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  Thereafter the Pharaoh's daughter saw the baby and took
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  the baby as her own and raised this baby in the palace there.
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  And so Moses knew all about Egyptian Pagan idolatry.
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  He knew about all their false religion and all the stuff.
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  Yet he was called by God in the very beginning before he was
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  even born. The Bible says that God's favor
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  was on Moses when he was a baby. Now when he was 40 years old and
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  Moses lived to be 120. So Moses life is separated into
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  3 segments of 40 years and then when he was 40 years old it came
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  into his heart to visit his brother and the children of
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  Israel. Wasn't that interesting?
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  One day he gets up and all of a sudden he's got a burden for his
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  own people. Up until that point, he was
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  probably just living his life, doing his thing.
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  And all of a sudden the Holy Spirit puts his passion in his
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  heart to visit the children of Israel.
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  And he saw one of them suffer wrong.
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  He defended and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down
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  the Egyptians. So this Egyptians being brutal
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  to this Jewish slave, taking advantage of them, beating them.
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  Moses sees it, goes over and intervenes.
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  And in pushing down this Egyptian, this guy ended up
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  dying. He basically was murdered.
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  For he supposed that this brother would have understood
• 22:13
  that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not
• 22:16
  understand. So Moses, whenever he had this
• 22:19
  burden, he already understood that somehow he was responsible
• 22:24
  to be the one who would deliver the children of Israel out of
• 22:28
  Egypt. What a what a calling all these
• 22:33
  people, millions of people and one man.
• 22:38
  And he senses this burden that they got to be helped, they got
• 22:41
  to someone's got to do something to get these people out of this
• 22:44
  horrible place and under this terrible bondage.
• 22:47
  So he supposed that his brother would have understood that God
• 22:50
  would deliver them by his hand, but they didn't understand.
• 22:53
  So the next day he appears to two of them as they're fighting.
• 22:57
  So 2 Jewish guys, they're fighting about who knows what.
• 23:00
  And he tries to reconcile them saying, men, you are brethren,
• 23:04
  you belong to each other, your family.
• 23:05
  Why do you wrong one another that he who did his neighbor
• 23:09
  wrong pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge
• 23:13
  over us? Do you want to kill me as you
• 23:15
  did the Egyptian yesterday. Then as this saying, Moses fled
• 23:19
  and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two sons.
• 23:24
  So Moses hears us. He's probably looking around.
• 23:26
  I hope no one heard this. I'm getting out of here because
• 23:28
  they catch me for this. I'm I'm in trouble.
• 23:31
  So so he took off. It's interesting that any
• 23:35
  messenger that God has sent and you can study throughout the Old
• 23:38
  Testament. Isaiah was a prophet.
• 23:40
  He was son into Jeremiah was sown in a prison.
• 23:43
  I mean, all the people that God had sent to bring the message
• 23:47
  was always somehow either martyred, rejected, or just
• 23:51
  betrayed. This is just the the history of
• 23:54
  of the nation of Israel. Thanks for joining us on this
• 23:58
  journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living
• 24:01
  Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most
• 24:04
  remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the
• 24:08
  disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet
• 24:12
  here are very different from the often confused and fearful
• 24:17
  disciples in the Gospels. After Jesus's death and
• 24:21
  resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy
• 24:24
  Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their
• 24:29
  hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering,
• 24:33
  and they moved forward with courage to spread the gospel
• 24:36
  despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same
• 24:41
  Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our
• 24:46
  hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ.
• 24:50
  Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel
• 24:53
  Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
• 24:56
  area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
• 25:02
  Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
• 25:04
  Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information or you can
• 25:09
  also join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, give
• 25:13
  online and download our mobile app.
• 25:17
  If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
• 25:20
  on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping support the
• 25:25
  new station that will reach thousands more listeners.
• 25:28
  Send gifts to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
• 25:36
  If you can join us in person, you can subscribe to the Calvary
• 25:38
  Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel so you'll be alerted
• 25:42
  when new material becomes available.
• 25:45
  We're so grateful that you joined us today in Axe TuneIn
• 25:48
  again soon for another edition of Living Waters of Grace.