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Living Waters of Grace 10.27.25 · 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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Verse 18 Now for a time of about 40 years, we know they wandered
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for 40 years in the wilderness sort of listening and not
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listening, thanking God and complaining about things that
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sound familiar if you ever do that.
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I've been on the planet 71 years and I got my years of
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complaining and whatever and then thanking God.
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But it says He put up with their ways in the wilderness.
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Isn't that wonderful that God puts up with us?
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He doesn't give up on us. Pastor Clark just gave us
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another way of God extending His grace to us.
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Putting up with us. The holiness of God is something
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we can't even fathom, and sometimes it really does feel
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that way. God is putting up with us.
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Well, there certainly is some truth to that.
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We need to pause and ask the question, why does God put up
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with me? It's because He loves me.
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God's great love for me is what motivates him in everything that
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he does in my life. Today.
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You'll learn more about how God works in your life now.
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Here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 13 with today's edition
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of Living Waters of Grace. Let's look at in the book of the
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Acts, Acts chapter 13. And I'm really excited about
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this chapter because I don't know about you, but sometimes I,
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I forget the awesomeness and the simplicity of the gospel of
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Jesus Christ. I get caught up in life and
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teachings and Bible study and all that.
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And it seems like the gospel. We all hopefully know it by now
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if we've been Christians for any length of time.
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But it takes on different layers, doesn't it?
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As you get to know Christ better, it becomes deeper and
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more precious and more living and alive.
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We have to think about the Apostle Paul briefly, because he
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was against the gospel. He persecuted Christians.
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He hated the movement of Christianity.
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What didn't accept Christ, didn't believe, you know, tried
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to do everything he could to destroy this movement that can't
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be destroyed. Over the last 2000 years, it
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keeps growing exponentially all around the world.
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And many of us here today have been recipients.
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We've received this gospel and it's it's changed our lives and
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continually changes our lives. But the transformation of Paul's
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life, we read about what he does and his exploits and the
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suffering he goes through being an apostle, the rejection, the
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stoning, the imprisonment. People would ask him, why, Why
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do you do this? And he said, it's the love of
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Christ that constrains me. He was so compelled to share
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what it is that Lewis and I and other pastors are sharing with
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the congregations the good news of the gospel.
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And so when we read this and study this, keep in mind that
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there is this compelling internal work of God in the
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apostle to share this message, this story, over and over and
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over again. And it's what compels Pastor
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Lewis and myself. No matter what is going on in
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life, in the world, in our own personal lives, we can't wait to
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get here to tell you more about Jesus.
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And that's what we're called to do.
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And we're thankful that you embrace that or you wouldn't be
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here today. So it starts in verse 13 of
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chapter 13, when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos.
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They came to Purga and Pamphylia and John departing from them,
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returned to Jerusalem, period. What happened to John?
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John Mark, the one who eventually wrote the Gospel of
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Mark, he's cousin of Barnabas. He's learning how to do
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ministry. Young, young guy, he's with Paul
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and Barnabas and all of a sudden he turns around and goes the
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other way. Why did he leave the calling?
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Well, it's, it's beautiful how the Holy Spirit can get into the
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detail right here about the conflict that occurred between
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basically Paul and John. Maybe some people think that
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John was a little bit overwhelmed with the pressures
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of the ministry. He began to see the potential of
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losing maybe his life and the persecution, being imprisoned,
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stoned. Maybe he was sort of
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disappointed. It used to say Barnabas and
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Paul. Now it's Paul and company.
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Paul's taking on the the influence of the leader, and
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maybe he didn't like that and he wanted Barnabas to continually
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sort of head these mission situations up.
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Maybe he was as homesick and he wanted to get back home.
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Some people believe because he was a devout Jew, that he didn't
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like this idea of Gentiles getting into the Kingdom so
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easily when they had to follow the law throughout the Old
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Testament and do all the rituals and kosher foods and all that.
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No longer is that important anymore.
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It's just faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone.
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Some people think that maybe he went back to Jerusalem and got
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people stirred up to the Judaizers that Paul had to deal
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with in the book of Galatians to tell the people that there's
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only one gospel. It's not a gospel of works plus
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grace. It's a gospel of grace alone
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completely. And that's hard for religious
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people to accept that we can be forgiven of every sin that we
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possibly could commit yesterday, the day and forever and go to
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heaven because of what Christ has done for us as we asked him
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to forgive us. A lot of people can't be that
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easy. I felt.
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I asked you guys to pray about, pray for that.
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I met in Lancaster, had dinner with him again, and started this
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building upon the relationship. He's still not a customer, and
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he's hard guy to be around because he's just so lost in the
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darkness and the drinking and the tragedies of his own life.
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And we went to a restaurant. So we began to talk about trials
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and difficulties of life. And he was surprised that I have
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them too. He just thought that he had.
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And we all have them, right? And as we begin to talk, I
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shared with him that the only way I can get through life every
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day is by being close to Jesus. And he said, I need to start
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wearing sunglasses to our dinner because he's sobbing as we're
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talking, you know, And so when we were all done, I, I said, you
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know, this is more important to me than business, seeing you
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come to know Jesus. So I said, I got something for
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you in the car. So I went out to the van and
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gave him one of our Bibles that we have to give away to people
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in the Bible promise handbook. And he gave me a big hug.
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So please continually pray for Mark and, and the people I know
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that you're burdened for you're trying to share the good news of
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the gospel with. We just plant the seed and God
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is the one that increases and gives the harvest, right?
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And so I pray for Mark as well. So it it stops there and it
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continues. But one thing to to think about
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and we'll get there later on that in chapter 15, Barnabas and
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Paul had a falling out. Be like Lewis and me having a
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falling out. One week I'm here and he's not
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here. And the next week or maybe after
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that, he's here and I'm not here.
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What happened to Clark? Well, we had a falling out.
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I mean, boy, that that's doesn't sound good in the church, does
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it? Doesn't sound good as brothers
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and sisters in Christ. But it happens.
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Relationships get rocky sometimes and the devil always
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wants to sow discord or disagreement among the brothers
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and sisters is to split the church or the, you know, scatter
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the sheep. It just happens.
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It's one of the more heart wrenching things.
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And so Barnabas, you know, he, he takes off and he goes his own
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way. Eventually, you know, he works
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with John and others and, and Paul ends up working with Silas
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and eventually he ends up with Timothy.
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But the good news is, is in the book of Second Timothy, chapter
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4, I'm just going to read that real quick because this will
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segue into the rest of the place.
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We're heading Second Timothy 4 verse 6.
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This is Paul. He's getting ready to pass from
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this life. He's he's fought the good fight.
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He he's finishing his his ministry.
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He says in verse 6 from already being poured out as a drink
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offering and the time of my departure is in hand.
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I've fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the
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faith. Finally there is laid up for me
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the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
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judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but
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also to all who loved disappearing.
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And then he says be diligent to come to me quickly for Demas,
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and this is someone else that was in the ministry had says
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forsaken me having loved this present world and has departed
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for Thessalonica Creations for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.
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Only Luke is with me and Luke was a physician.
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Mark had issues of illness and disease and other problems like
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malaria, he said. But then he says get Mark and
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bring him with you for he is useful to me for ministry.
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Isn't that beautiful? The falling out is no longer a
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falling out. There's reconciliation, they're
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doing ministry again together, they're serving together again.
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And that's the Lord's intention all the time.
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Sometimes we have to give one another space and pray and wait
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on the Lord for the reconciliations to occur,
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whether it's in church or business or family or sons and
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daughters or you know whatever right marriages.
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We we have to trust God to do the work that only he can do and
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so that that encourages me because if you just stop there
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and think well, what in the deal is up with Mark and Paul.
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The good news is it didn't stay that way and you always pray
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that relationships can be re established and us personally
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have responsibility to be humble and forgiving and not keep a
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record of offenses are wrong. Like Corinthians tells us, First
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Corinthians 13, love doesn't keep a record of wrong.
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So when we have our hearts clear and we're not thinking about
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things that have occurred to us from other people or whatever,
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we're able to wait on the Lord and and let it go until God does
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something. So they depart for Purga and
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they come to Antioch and Pasidia and this is about 100 miles
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north. It's quite a trek.
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They go up about 3600 feet high elevation.
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Paul was struggling at the time with his health and some people
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believed he had malaria. So he had to get into more
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comfortable climate conditions to continue the work and after.
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So they they go into the synagogue.
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And what's interesting, when Paul was doing the missionary
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journeys, he was very strategic. He looked for cities of
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influence to start with. And cities of influence would
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always at least have 11 synagogue.
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And so because he was a Pharisee, a member of the
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Sanhedrin, he had academic credentials.
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He was schooled by Gamaliel, and everybody respected his
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background. And a lot of people didn't know
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at this point his conversion. But he's in the synagogue with
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Barnabas, who came from Cyprus, and also a very stellar
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intellectual in regard to theology.
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They're there and they're like celebrities in the synagogue
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and, and so they, they normally have their readings and
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writings, reading the prophets and all the history of, of the
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Bible teaching in the Old Testament that Messiah would one
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day come and save Israel. There they are visiting not to
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be critical, but they're there to share the good news.
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So because of their degrees and their knowledge and their
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expertise and respect from Jerusalem, they're wow,
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someone's here from Jerusalem. Let's let's see if they want to
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tell us some stuff. So they give them the, the
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platform to to begin to talk and little did they know what was
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going to begin to be talked about.
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And that's the, this is Paul's first sermon in the book of the
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Acts. It's very similar to Peter's
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first sermon. And also Stephen, the one who
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was martyred that take the history of Israel.
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And what happened is Israel moved through the process of
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being delivered out of Egypt into eventually the promised
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land and then the history of what they had to deal with in
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their rebellion and their backsliding and their own
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unbelief. And so Paul's going to review
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some things with them. And so he says they're there on
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the Sabbath day. And after the reading of the law
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and the prophets, which was traditional in the synagogue,
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verse 15, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying,
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men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the
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people, say on. So they just didn't interrupt
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the meeting. They were invited to talk about
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what it is that they wanted to talk about.
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Then Paul stood up and motioning with his hand.
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Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.
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So the respect of the Jewish people and their religion, men
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of Israel. And then there would be
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gentiles. There are those that are fearing
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God, haven't embraced Judaism fully, but they're interested.
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They're there in the in the meeting because they're
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interested. You're here today in this
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meeting because obviously you're interested in learning more
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about the Lord and following him or why would you be here, right?
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So the God of this people, this is Paul's message.
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Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they
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dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and when with an
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uplifted arm he brought them out of it.
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And we know Moses raised his staff, the water separated and
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and the sea, and they were able to escape the attack of the
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wicked Pharaoh. And the Lord delivered him out
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of that bondage in Egypt, that terrible place to be where they
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were abused and taken advantage of and this terrible, terrible
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existence. Verse 18.
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Now for a time of about 40 years, we know they wandered for
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40 years in the wilderness, sort of listening and not listening,
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thanking God and complaining about things that sound familiar
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if you ever do that. I've been on the planet 71 years
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and I've got my years of complaining and whatever and
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then thanking God. But it says He put up with their
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ways in the wilderness. Isn't that wonderful that God
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puts up with us? He doesn't give up on us.
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And verse 19 and when he had destroyed seven nations in the
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land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by allotment.
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So we know when Joshua went in to the, you know, promised land,
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he was instructed because Moses had been taken off the scene
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then. And they did battle and they had
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wars and and they eventually conquered and they had all this
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real estate that God promised prophetically that would be the
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inheritance of the the 12 tribes of Israel.
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And so this, the history and and these guys in the synagogue know
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this stuff. This has never been anything
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they never heard of before. After that, verse 20, he gave
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them judges for about 450 years. So the judges were set up to
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roll on issues of law and morality and justice and that
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kind of stuff and never really worked out that well because
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you'd have good judges. You have bad judges just like we
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have good presidents, bad presidents.
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I mean, you know it, it just happens, right?
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So until Samuel the prophet came along and when Samuel the
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prophet came along in verse 21 and afterward they asked for
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king. So they're asking pray and
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asking for king. We need to be have someone in
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charge here instead of a group of these judges.
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So God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of
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Benjamin for 40 years. And when he removed him, now
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Saul was not a good king. And you can read the history the
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guys are teaching through the Old Testament on Wednesday
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nights and they really cover it very, very detailed like we do
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Sunday morning in the New Testament, that the history of
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Saul was completely corrupt. So God eventually removed him.
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Then he raised up for them David as king, King David.
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Everybody knows about David, right?
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You learn about David and Sunday school, David and Goliath.
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What do you, what do you think about when you hear the word
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David? I think more about David and
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Bathsheba. What happened there?
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Then David and Goliath and David and Bathsheba committed adultery
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and they ended up having a tremendous heartache in the
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nation of Israel because of that.
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And eventually David admitted to his sin when Nathan came to him
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and about a year after the event, but not only did David
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commit adultery, he set up Uriah, her husband in battle to
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be killed. So David is an adulterer and a
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murderer. And the Lord says about him, he
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gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a
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man after my own heart who will do my will.
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David failed as many of us have failed in many different ways in
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our life. But God knows our hearts.
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None of us are perfect. He knows that we draw near to
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Him and the times of difficulty. When we make mistakes, we don't
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justify them and are proud and ignore the work of the Holy
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Spirit. If we're really saved, the Holy
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Spirit's in us. He begins to tell us why there's
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problems or what needs to be addressed.
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In Psalm 51 is written where you can see the desperation of David
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crying out to God for his sin. Oh Lord, restore to me the joy
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of my salvation. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
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me, created me a clean heart of God, and renew a steadfast
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spirit within me. Then I'll teach transgressors
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your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you.
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And farther on down than that Psalm, it says a broken and a
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contrite heart God will not despise.
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And so whenever we allow God to show us our issues every day,
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this is something I want to deal with, or this is something that
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needs to be corrected, or this is he, he, he's our God, the
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Holy Spirit and he, he leads us if we were willing to listen to
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what it is that God requires of us.
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And it's always the challenge of changing our mind from one thing
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to what it is that God wants. That's repentance.
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It's not like groveling or beating ourselves up or woe is
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me kind of thing. It's just like, Lord, I hear
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you. I need to make this right.
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I need to stop this thing. I need to forgive this person.
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I need to worship you. I mean, whatever it might be, a
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host of things that you and I hear every day.
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And whenever we hear the voice of God, we have one or two
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decisions to make. We either listen and yield, or
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we just stuff it and blow it away.
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And we've all been in either of those places.
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We know the benefit of doing it God's way.
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It really makes life a lot easier, right?
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And we also know the challenge of not the one at God's way and
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the consequences of what that creates in our lives and the
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lives of our families and church body and and other
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relationships. So whenever you see the Lord
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through Paul use this verse, God wasn't saying well Dave is no
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good because he did this or he wasn't able to be used by me
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because he did this. David was able to continually
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use be used by God even though there was consequences for his
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sin in the nation to still accomplish his will through
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David's life. And that should encourage you
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and me. God uses imperfect people.
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And if you study the Bible for any length of time, you know
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that a lot of the people that are famous in the Bible didn't
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have a perfect history, did they?
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And so here we are today, and God wants to use our lives and
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he wants to use your life in the life of someone who doesn't know
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Jesus, who's broken. If you're sitting there
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thinking, well, who am I to tell anybody about Jesus?
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I had a terrible life and I committed terrible sins.
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Well, if we are saved, we know the good news is that God
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forgave us of our terrible sins, and he gave us a new heart and
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he gave us a new life, right? To be able to present.
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The good news of the gospel is that Christ died for sinners,
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which we all are. And so it's just this beautiful.
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So Paul's sermon is building on all these things.
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And as David was the king, he then prophetically was the one
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God used through the seed of David from this man.
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See David verse 23. According to the promise God
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raised up Israel up for Israel, a savior Jesus.
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So Jesus is through the lineage of David through an adulterer
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and a murderer. I mean you say God, why didn't
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you pick someone perfect that never because well there is no
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one perfect. I use people like you guys to do
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my will so that when all this stuff comes through, we know
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there's only one perfect 1 and that's Jesus Christ and God use
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chooses to use us in this process.
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After that verse 24, John had first preached John the Baptist
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before his coming, the baptism of repentance that John was
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challenging people to turn from their sin and turn toward
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Messiah who is going to come. And many people came to that
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baptism in the Jordan to be, you know, repenting, prepared for
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the Lord who was to come repentance to all the people of
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Israel. Verse 25 And as John was
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finishing his course, he said, who do you think I am?
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I am not he. Well, everybody thought John,
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man, he's something else. He's out there in the
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wilderness. He's not connected to this world
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really. He's like a hermit.
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He's just like very, very different and very godly and
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very fiery in his eyes and just the passion he had for God and
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nothing else. They might have thought he was
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the one. Well, this guy, he's, he's
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different. I mean, he's really challenging
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me and my heart's convicted because of what he's saying.
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He says I am not he. But behold, there comes one
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after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to lose.
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So you see humility in John. He didn't think he was anything.
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He was just a voice in the wilderness, as the Bible says,
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just like I'm a voice here today in the wilderness that we live
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in today in this world, men and brethren.
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Verse 26, Paul says, sons of the family of Abraham, Abraham,
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Isaac, Jacob, the lineage of the nation of Israel through the
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patriarchs. He's speaking to them and those
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among you who fear God, the Gentiles who are sitting in the
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synagogue seeking the truth. Thanks for joining us on this
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journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living
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Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most
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remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the
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disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet
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here are very different from the often confused and fearful
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disciples in the Gospels. And after Jesus's death and
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resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy
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Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their
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hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering,
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and they move forward with courage to spread the gospel
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despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same
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Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our
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hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ.
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Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
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Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
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Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information where you
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can also join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, give
25:13
online and download our mobile app.
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If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
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on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping support the
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new station that will reach thousands more listeners.
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Send gifts to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
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If you can join us in person, you can subscribe to the Calvary
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Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel so you'll be alerted
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when new material becomes available.
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We're so grateful that you joined us today in Axe TuneIn
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again soon for another edition of Living Waters of Grace.