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Living Waters of Grace 10.06.25 · 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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  Whenever I leave here today, even though I sense His Holiness
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  and His presence in the midst of us gathering as a congregation,
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  I will sense that same holiness when I leave here.
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  And God is with me wherever I go and where He's with you.
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  Wherever you go, He dwells in us.
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  The temple of God is you and me. When we gather together as a
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  corporate group, it's it seems like it's more dynamic.
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  And it is because whenever two or more gathered together in His
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  name, He's definitely clearly there in the midst of us.
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  You don't need to have a fancy building, the charismatic
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  pastor, or even a worship band to enter into God's presence.
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  When Jesus died on the cross, God's presence ripped the
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  curtain to the Holy of Holies in two, making God's presence
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  accessible to anyone who calls on His name.
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  Pastor Clark teaches you today that God is with you always,
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  even when you're not around other believers.
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  You could still sense His presence with you even when
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  you're going about menial activities in your everyday
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  life. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts
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  Chapter 7 as he continues his message.
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  Jewish history began with Abraham.
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  Next day he appears to two of them as they're fighting.
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  So 2 Jewish guys, they're fighting about who knows what.
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  And he tries to reconcile them saying men, you're a brethren,
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  you, you belong to each other, you're family, Why do you wrong
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  one another? But he who did his neighbor
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  wrong pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge
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  over us? You want to kill me as you did
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  the Egyptian yesterday. Then as this saying, Moses fled
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  and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two sons.
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  So Moses hears us. He's probably looking around.
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  I hope no one heard this. I'm getting out of here because
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  they catch me for this. I'm I'm in trouble.
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  So so he took off. It's interesting that any
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  messenger that God has sent and you can study throughout the Old
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  Testament. Isaiah was a prophet.
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  He was sown into Jeremiah was sown in a prison.
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  I mean, all the people that God had sent to bring the message
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  was always we somehow either martyred, rejected or just
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  betrayed. This is just the the history of
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  of the nation of Israel. I find it amazing that here God
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  picks his people group. They have these miracles.
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  They go through the the miracle of the deliverance through the
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  Red Sea. They have the pillar of cloud by
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  day to guide them. Tabernacle moved around God's
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  presence, the pillar of fire at night.
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  They had manna provided for them food.
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  They had quail to eat, protein, they had clothing that never
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  wore out. I mean, they had one miracle
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  after another miracle after another miracle.
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  And they get to the point that they aren't going to listen
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  anymore. They're not going to listen to
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  God, let alone the people that he sends to tell them about who
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  he is. And so Moses, then he takes off.
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  He fled and he became a dweller in the land of Midian.
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  So he he became a sheep herder in the backside of the mountain
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  of the deserts for 40 years, every day getting up, taking
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  care of the livestock. He had a wife and couple, couple
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  kids. That was it.
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  He probably every once in a while thought, I wonder how
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  things are going in Egypt. I wonder how my people are
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  going. But he knew he couldn't go back
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  because of the murder he had committed in verse 30.
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  And when 40 years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to
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  him in a flame of fire in a Bush in the wilderness of Mount
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  Sinai. So here he is, another day.
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  There's another mundane, boring day of doing work whatever up
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  there on the mountain. He probably passed that Bush at
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  different times. All the sudden this Bush is on
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  fire and he hears a voice coming from the Bush.
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  It's an Angel of the Lord getting his attention.
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  And when Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight.
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  And as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to
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  him, saying, I am the God of your father's, the God of
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  Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
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  And Moses trembled and dared not look.
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  Then the Lord said to him, Take your sandals off your feet, for
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  the place where you stand his holy ground.
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  I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are
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  in Egypt. I have heard their groanings,
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  and I've come down to deliver them.
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  And now come, and I will send you to Egypt.
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  So I think about all these years of people crying out to God.
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  It's never the fact that God doesn't hear.
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  It's always the timing of 1 responds to what it is the cry
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  is about and we can't speed that up as much as we wonder like
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  Lord, how come you haven't answered me yet?
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  How come you haven't helped me with this yet?
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  How come you haven't shown me yet?
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  It isn't that he's ignoring you, but He has a perfect time when
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  he's going to deliver you or help you or provide for you in a
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  way that you'll know it's him. It wasn't you or anybody else,
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  it's Him. And so God shows up in a very
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  powerful way and now he's Speaking of Moses.
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  And Moses isn't an arrogant man anymore trying to use physical
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  force to get people to get straight.
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  Now he's a timid, fearful, weak man.
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  And that's who the kind of people God uses.
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  He's not looking for people to have it all together who think
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  they're perfect or they're trained or they're skilled or
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  whatever. He chooses the weak and foolish
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  things of this world to confound the wise that no flesh with
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  glory in his presence. So Moses at this point is not
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  probably the best candidate from our perspective because of his
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  lack of pride. God maybe, or his lack of, I can
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  get this done or I can do it. Hey, you picked the right guy.
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  I'm all ready to go. Moses does everything he can.
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  If you remember to say, hey, not me.
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  I can't talk. I I can't do this.
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  And God's frustrated with him. Like I'm going to do this in you
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  and through you. It's not going to be you, Moses.
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  But God gave Moses a break for a little while and had Aaron, his
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  brother, do some of the speaking initially, until Moses began to
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  see that the mighty hand of God was doing all these miracles.
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  It wasn't him or Aaron. It was God in and through these
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  servants of His. And so the Lord is speaking to
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  him now and the people they are, this is the way they are, this
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  Moses whom they rejected saying, who made you a roller?
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  And a judge is the one God sent to be a roller and a deliverer
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  by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the Bush.
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  He brought them out after he'd shown wonders and signs in the
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  land of Egypt, in the Red Sea and in the wilderness 40 years.
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  So you see the rebellion of Israel against God starting in
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  verse 37. This is that Moses who said to
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  the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a
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  prophet like me from your brother, and him you shall hear.
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  So he's already telling him that Jesus is coming.
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  He's on his way, and he's the one you're going to hear.
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  He's the one that's the true leader.
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  He's the one that's the true deliverer.
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  He's the one that is the Messiah.
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  And this is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness
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  with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our
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  fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us
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  the 10 commandments whom our fathers would not obey, but
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  rejected. And in their hearts they turned
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  back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us.
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  As for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we
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  do not know what has becoming him.
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  And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the
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  idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
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  And then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of
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  heaven as it is written in the book of the Prophets.
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  Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifice during 40
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  years in the wilderness of House of Israel?
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  You also took up the Tabernacle of Molech and the Stars of your
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  God Rap fan images, which you made to worship.
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  And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
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  And so in this midst of God doing all these awesome miracles
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  and the group of people that you would think would be tuned in to
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  be faithful, to follow, to be loyal to, to have allegiance to,
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  to pay homage to, they are just blowing it off like never
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  happened at the bottom of Sinai. Moses is up there dealing with
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  God and the law and, and all the holiness and the purity of who
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  he is. And they're down there partying,
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  they're getting drunk, they're having orgies, they're
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  worshipping Pagan deities or they're molding idols.
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  I mean, it's just a horrific scene.
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  And whenever Moses came down off that hill, Joshua, his helper
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  said that there's a sound of a lot of voices down there.
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  What what's going on? It sounds like war closer they
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  got down there, they realized it wasn't a war.
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  It was a horrible picture of ungodliness under the holy
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  mount, Mount Sinai. And so God had to deal with it
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  and, and over 22,000 people were killed that day because of their
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  disobedience to the Lord. So the picture here is that
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  Steven is preaching and showing the nations history of how
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  they've always acted and they're still acting this way even
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  though initially they're acting like OK, Jesus is a good guy, a
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  prophet, whatever, you can have your religion, we'll let you go.
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  They are getting more and more convicted because they're
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  supposed to be representing to their own people group, true
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  religion or true faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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  But because of their unbelief and their rebellion, they are
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  going against what it is that God is endeavoring to show them.
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  So it continues in verse 44, our fathers is talking about God's
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  true Tabernacle. Our fathers had the Tabernacle
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  of witness in the wilderness as He appointed instructing Moses
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  to make it according to the pattern, and He had seen which
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  our fathers having received it, in turn brought with Josh, went
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  to the land possessed by the Gentiles.
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  So when Moses couldn't continue to lead the nation and God took
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  him up, Joshua was the next kind in the leadership there to to
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  lead the children of Israel. This temple, this Tabernacle was
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  so specifically designed. The beauty of it and all the
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  different parts of it and all that these things represented to
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  the people, this presence of God.
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  They were told to, you know, take care of this and move it
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  around. This is how God would show up
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  and speak with them at that particular time.
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  Joshua, they they take God drove out before the face of the
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  fathers, all these bad people in the promised land until the days
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  of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling
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  for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house.
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  So there's another temple built in the times of David.
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  However, in spite of all these historical facts and history,
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  the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.
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  As the prophet said, God never intended us to worship a
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  building or worship an environment that we think is
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  holy. The only thing that that's holy
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  in the environment when people gather is the holy God, and we
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  are partakers of that holiness. As his followers, we're to be
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  holy. The Bible says is he's holy.
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  But whenever I leave here today, even though I sense His Holiness
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  and his presence in the midst of us gathering as a congregation,
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  I will sense that same holiness when I leave here.
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  And God is with me wherever I go and where he's with you,
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  wherever you go, He dwells in us.
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  The temple of God is you and me. When we gather together as a
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  corporate group, it's it seems like it's more dynamic.
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  And it is because whenever two or more gathered together in his
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  name, he's definitely clearly there in the midst of us.
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  But he's also, this is really, and this is present when you're
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  with him in your home or wherever you are meeting with
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  him in prayer or the word or just talking him about whatever
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  is on your heart and what you need help with.
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  But then the prophet says, and he's, he's quoting here from
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  Isaiah chapter 66. However, the Most High does not
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  thrown temples made with hands. As the prophet says, heaven is
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  my throne and earth is my footstool.
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  What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is
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  the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these
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  things comical? You know, you want to know the
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  throne room of God? It's the whole universe, way
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  beyond what we can even see or even comprehend.
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  The Bible says in Him we live, move and have our being.
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  And it's staggering that we would think that God is in a
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  box, in an altar. And we sit and we look at the
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  box, somehow thinking, you know, well, God's in that box, which
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  in some religious traditions represents the communion, the
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  Eucharist, the Lord's Supper. You can't contain God in
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  anything. God's omnipresent, everywhere
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  present, He fills all things. And so our minds, I guess before
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  we come to know Christ, they're real small, aren't they?
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  We don't have the ability to fathom a creator God because
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  everything's like we're looking and we got a penny in front of
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  our eye and the penny blocks the vision of the glory of God
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  because we're so narrow minded and so short sighted that we
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  can't see what it is that God wants us to see until we begin
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  to, to read the Scriptures. And then they the Bible says the
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  entrance of God's word gives light, it turns the lights on,
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  it takes the darkness away because understanding the simple
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  minded people like us. So Israel resists the Holy
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  Spirit. So they're resisting the
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  prophets. They're resisting the message of
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  Moses. You know, the brothers, the
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  patriarchs rejected Joseph's leadership until, you know, he
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  provided for them. And they then begin to know that
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  it was God's plan. Everything had happened.
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  But it's just his tendency of human nature to reject the will
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  of God. So then he starts really getting
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  into it here you stiff 5th neck and verse 51 and uncircumcised
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  in heart and ears. Now they were circumcised
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  physically, but they weren't circumcised in their heart and
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  the true circumcision of God is a new heart.
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  God says I will take out your heart of a stone and I will give
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  unto you a heart of flesh. And when God gives us this new
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  heart right, which most of us probably have in here is born
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  again believers. We definitely have it if we're
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  born again, if we're not saved yet, we don't.
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  We still have a heart of stone and that's what continually
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  resists the seed of the word of God on in our heart.
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  We just reject it, push it away. I did that for years.
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  I'm sure some of you did too and want to hear it and want to
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  acknowledge it and want to accept it.
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  But he's telling them that they're like this.
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  They're stiff necked and uncircumcised.
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  He, he told them this over 20 times in the Old Testament, that
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  this is how they react. You always resist the Holy
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  Spirit as your Father's did, and so do you.
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  Which of the prophets did your Father's not persecute?
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  And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just,
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  one of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who
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  have received the law by the direction of angels, and have
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  not kept it so. They have all this religion,
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  they have this temple, they have the Torah, the first five books
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  of the Bible at the time. They have the the 10
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  commandments, the law, and no one's keeping it, no one's doing
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  it. It's just showing up, going
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  through ritual, the ceremony, and then going out and living
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  life like God doesn't exist. And so when they heard these
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  things and these are the people, the audience that the Lord had
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  collected to hear. Now at this point in time, most
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  of the people in Jerusalem that heard the message have already
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  become believers. The last time we looked at the
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  numbers, approximately 20,000 people, I don't know how many
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  people were living there at that time, but it was still a small
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  percentage of the total population.
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  So God knows when he moves and he moves within a people group
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  and a nation, a country that there will eventually be a
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  number that's sort of like stabilized.
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  And the rest of the people that are rejecting the message would
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  be people that hate Jesus and hate him.
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  And I'm not saying there's no hope for them, but the heart of
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  the heart becomes the more difficult it is to put your
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  faith in Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said the day is
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  the day of salvation. If you hear his voice now, he's
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  softening it. Receive Him and believe in him,
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  because you might not get another chance if the Holy
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  Spirit's convicting you. And you know I need Jesus, let
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  him save you. Get out of the way and ask Him
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  for forgiveness that you want to follow him and he'll he'll save
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  you. It's, it's, it's that simple.
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  So these people are resisting. So when they hear these things,
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  verse 54, they're cut to the heart, meaning they're convicted
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  and they gnash at him with their teeth.
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  They're so mad and angry. You ever get really mad at
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  somebody just hurt your teaching.
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  I hate you. I hope you guys don't do that,
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  but you've probably done that before.
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  The Bible talks about weeping and gnashing of teeth being
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  symbolic of the consequences of what it's going to be like being
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  in hell will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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  But he being full of the Holy Spirit, Steven never missed a
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  beat. He was under the control and
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  influence of the Holy Spirit. He wasn't going to back off or
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  not tell these people the truth. He was a true faithful witness.
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  He gazes into heaven. I don't know if he had some kind
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  of vision or this is something that he was able to see and no
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  one else was able to see. And he saw the glory of God and
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  Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
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  Jesus is standing there ready to receive his first martyr that's
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  given his life for the sake of the gospel.
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  Jesus already gave his life for you and me.
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  And Stephen has the privilege of being the first human being to
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  give his life for Christ and, and Christ is rooting for us all
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  the time. He's our biggest fan, isn't he?
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  Like when we walk our in our lives and do things according to
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  his will, he's cheering you on. You're with me.
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  You're my family, you're my son, you're my daughter.
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  I rejoice in what you're doing. I see your suffering.
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  I know it's hard, I know it's difficult, but it's going to be
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  worth it. Just keep, keep on keeping on.
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  Like it says in First Corinthians 1558, be steadfast
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  and movable, always abiding and to work for the Lord as much as
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  you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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  It's never a waste of time. And so he sees the Lord Jesus
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  standing there at the right hand of God, says, look, I see the
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  heavens open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of
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  God. Then they cried out with a loud
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  voice. They stopped their ears and they
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  ran at him with 1 accord and they cast him out of the city.
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  And the way they do this, they put him in some kind of pit and
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  they had all these rules of how many feet you had to be away
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  until they, you know, repented or, you know, said, I'm not
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  going to do this anymore. There was no opportunity for any
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  of this. Stephen was committed and he
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  wasn't changing his mind. They cast him out and they stone
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  him, and the witness laid down their clothes at the feet of a
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  young man named Saul. So here's the apostle Paul
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  before he's saved. And keep your in your mind, you
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  might know someone in your life. Oh, that person's never going to
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  be a believer. They're so wicked, they're so
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  ungodly, they're so Pagan, they're so hateful.
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  Pray for them. Be a light like Stephen was.
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  Stephen's countenance shine like an Angel.
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  Paul had to observe all this, right?
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  Who knows the background in all the details of when Paul
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  eventually became a believer, But Stephen had an impact on
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  Paul as he's had an impact on everybody that's ever read the
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  story and all those who were there.
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  And so they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, saying, Lord
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  Jesus, receive my spirit. Remember the Lord Jesus when he
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  died on a cross into your hands I commit my spirit.
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  Stephen's doing the same thing, committing a spirit to the Lord.
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  He knelt down and he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not
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  charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he
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  fell asleep. What a man of God, What a loving
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  man, loving his enemies. Jesus says love those who hate
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  you, pray for those who hate you, love those who hate you,
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  pray for those who despitefully use you, and say all manner of
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  evil about me for my namesake. Don't you want to be like Jesus?
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  Don't you want to be like Stephen?
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  I know I do, and I can't do it in my own strength and neither
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  can you. That as the Holy Spirit works in
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  US and the grace of God fills us with the Spirit of God, we can
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  have lives that testify like this.
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  And as he said, like Jesus said, Father, forgive them.
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  They know not what they do. What a profound thing to say
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  when they were surely determined and focused and knew why they
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  wanted to get rid of Jesus. But Jesus and his grace said,
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  forgive them. So they don't know what they do.
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  And Stephen says do not charge them with this sin.
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  It says in chapter 8, there's a few verses now Saul was
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  consenting to his death. So the apostle Paul's like, kill
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  this guy, throw the stones at him.
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  Let's get rid of him, silence him.
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  He's coming against the great institution of Judaism in the in
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  the nation of Jerusalem. And so we got to get rid of him.
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  And so Saul was there pushing this stuff.
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  And at that time a great persecution arose against the
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  church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered.
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  They were pushed out of Jerusalem, the comfort zone, and
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  they ended up in the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the
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  apostles and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and they
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  made great lamentation over him. They were broken hearted over
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  this man's death. As for Saul, this is what he did
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  until the Lord got a hold of him.
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  He made havoc of the church. He came in and caused problems
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  everywhere he went. He hated Christians, he entered
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  every house, and he drag men and women out into prison,
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  committing them to prison because of their faith in the
• 22:23
  Lord Jesus. What blows me my mind about the
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  Bible? You go through a chapter like
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  that and you got the whole history, don't you, in one
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  chapter and it's so clear, it's so simple to understand.
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  So if you're here today and you're like those people wanting
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  to throw stones, put the stone down and say, Lord, I get it, I
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  need you. I believe this, I see it
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  documented in history. This is historical fact.
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  This isn't make believe stuff. This is true.
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  And whenever we come to the Lord with open hearts and soft hearts
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  and ask him and speak to him in prayer, He listens, He'll give
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  you a sense of his presence. He'll give you a sense of him
• 23:04
  being near to you. And you'll begin to see life
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  change and, and become completely different than it is
• 23:10
  now. Living without God.
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  God's created us to live with him.
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  He'd never created us to live without Him.
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  And really, we can't live without him.
• 23:19
  The way things are happening in the world right now and what
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  could potentially be coming down, you're going to need the
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  Lord. I'm going to need the Lord of
• 23:25
  ways that we never thought we needed him before until all we
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  have is him, right? And he'll protect us, He'll
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  stabilize us. And the best thing that is in
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  store for us is that we're going to see this one who stood up,
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  Stephen, and we're going to walk up into his presence that day as
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  his kids. And we're going to hear by his
• 23:46
  grades and see a smile on his face.
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  And he's going to hug us and say, well done, good and
• 23:51
  faithful servant, enter into the joy of the world.
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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
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  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
• 24:37
  filled 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 FM,
• 25:26
  PO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
• 25:31
  Stay connected through Facebook, YouTube, or our Calvary Chapel
• 25:35
  Westmoreland app. Join our e-mail list, submit
• 25:39
  prayer requests, and give online all at calvarychapelonline.com.
• 25:46
  Thank you for tuning in and spending this time in God's
• 25:48
  Word. Be sure to join us again for
• 25:50
  Living Waters of Grace.