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Living Waters of Grace 10.29.25 · 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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The good news is a later on there was reconciliation between
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Paul and John and so the good news is that they didn't stay
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apart from one another forever. And God always wants Christians
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and family and one another to be reconciled to one another.
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The message of the gospel is reconciliation to God, but how
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many of us are waiting for reconciliation to family or
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friends or relatives or Co workers or or loved ones that
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for whatever reason don't want to be around us or mad at us or
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upset about something? Having a little spat with
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someone is something we all go through, right?
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Even the followers of Jesus had their moments of disagreement
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among one another. But things get tricky when you
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choose not to make amends. Have you thought about just how
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crucial this really is? The Bible focuses on bringing
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you and God back together. Hey, what's holding you back
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from making amends with your friend?
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Today, Pastor Clark shares some thoughts on the power of
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reconciliation and the beauty of forgiveness.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 13 with
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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The book of the Acts is a study of the early church and the work
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of the Holy Spirit and the lives of those who serve the Lord and
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those who have become believers as a result of hearing hearing
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the Gospel. Their lives were changed through
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the work of the Holy Spirit and the day of Pentecost.
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And so today we're going to sort of review a little bit.
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It's been a while, like I say, of what I covered last time I
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was with you in the book of the Acts, Acts chapter 13.
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And we're going to pick things up in the 13th verse as we
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continue on in this particular chapter.
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Now, this is Paul's first sermon publicly that is recorded in the
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Bible. He had had messages up until
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this point, but this is the one that he began to develop his
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ministry with. And Paul, if you remember, was
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present when Stephen, the first martyr, was giving his message
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in the book of the Acts, in Acts Chapter 7, where he was
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educating the Jewish people on what the Lord had done for the
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nation of Israel from the beginning of time.
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And Paul was actually there at that time, not as a Christian,
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but as someone who persecuted Christians.
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He hated the faith of Christianity.
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And so he eventually was responsible for having Stephen
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stoned and martyred. So it's interesting.
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Here's a guy that heard a lot of this before, before he was a
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believer. And now he's a believer.
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And he's able to also, because of being saved now and being
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called by God and having the Holy Spirit in him, he's able
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now to communicate this to other people.
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And that's what's powerful about the word.
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It's a seed that's planted in all of our lives and sometimes
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we think, man, I don't really get this or I don't understand
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it the way I would like to, but be encouraged because God, when
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he plants a seed, he begins to water it and he begins to work
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with it. So eventually it brings forth a
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harvest in all of our lives. Doesn't matter.
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People that you know, you've talked to about the Lord and
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given him the word and told him about the Bible and the
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Scriptures, and they just like don't think about it or don't
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respond to it. Doesn't mean they won't
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eventually. So keep praying for the seed
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that's planted in the heart of the people.
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You sow the word of God into their lives.
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We're going to look at the verse 13 through 15 initially and just
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work our way through this chapter.
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Now, when Paul and his party had set sail from Paphos, they came
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to Purga and Pamphylia and John, departing from them, returned to
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Jerusalem. So we we spoke briefly about
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this fallout between the apostle Paul and John Mark.
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John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas.
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And for some reason there was some disconnect between these
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two guys. We'll learn a little bit more
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about it in the 15th chapter. But he was important to them in
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this missionary journey. This was the first missionary
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journey that the church had begun to do after Pentecost.
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Initially it was in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, primarily,
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where the gospel had gone and where people had become
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Christians. Now it's going into the
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uttermost parts of the earth. And so Paul is legitimately and
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Barnabas, the first missionary sent out from the church.
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They're learning as they go along.
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So they have a team. And in any kind of ministry, you
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have a team. You cannot do anything by
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yourself when you're called by God.
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You need Co laborers. You need people that will help
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and encourage and pray and have the same vision, the same focus,
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or you're just not going to be able to make it.
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And so you get discouraged at times in life, You get
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discouraged sometimes in the ministry.
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And so the need to have brothers and sisters around you when
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you're doing what you're doing is it gives you the ability to
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keep on doing what you're doing. Because if you aren't having
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help and encouragement and prayers, you just fade out.
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You just get discouraged. Sometimes you just don't want to
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do it. So John Mark, he was important
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to them and it doesn't give all the details of why he decided to
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back out. It could have been some conflict
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because Barnabas used to be sort of the guy that was leading it.
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And now Paul is the the primary focus along with Barnabas.
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Maybe he was intimidated by what they were going to face.
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He just saw some demonic activity with the sorcerer.
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They were going into some regions where there was some
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real Pagan worship and some danger.
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Maybe he was just afraid of getting hurt or something.
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We don't know. The good news is a later on
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there was reconciliation between Paul and John.
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And so the good news is that they didn't stay apart from one
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another forever. And God always wants Christians
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and family and one another to be reconciled to one another.
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The message of the gospel is reconciliation to God.
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But how many of us are waiting for reconciliation with family
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or friends or relatives or coworkers or or loved ones that
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for whatever reason don't want to be around us or mad at us or
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upset about something? Don't ever let your heart get
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hard because if it gets hard, then God can't do that work of
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re establishing friendships and community and love.
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And so it continues though after John Mark departed to go back to
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Jerusalem, It says that when they departed from Purga, they
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came to Antioch and Pasidia and went into the synagogue on the
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Sabbath day and sat down. So is as devastating, I'm sure,
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as it was for John Mark to leave them.
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They didn't say, well, we're going to quit now.
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We're not going to do this anymore.
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We were a team and the team isn't together like it once was,
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and so we can't do this anymore. We're just going to stop doing
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it. No, this showed the perseverance
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and the calling and the greatness of God upon Paul and
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Barnabas's life. I'm sure they were broken
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hearted over this, upset, whatever, but they focused on
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what they needed to do. And So what was interesting in
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those days, you didn't have a lot of churches like you do now
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all around the world. There was churches in the
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regions where they had planted churches, but they're in a
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completely different area now. There is no New Testament church
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yet in this particular place of Antioch or Presidia.
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This is an Antioch of Syria. This is a different Antioch.
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And so where they would go to have fellowship, if you may, or
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communion or, you know, talk about the things of God, they
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would go to the synagogue. And what was interesting in
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those days is if you were a learned person in regard to the
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Old Testament, because the New Testament wasn't written yet,
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you would be invited to speak within the synagogue if you had
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some degree of knowledge and ability to communicate the
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things of God. And so they came, This was a
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Saturday, the Sabbath day, and they sat down.
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And So what they would do in their liturgy as a Jewish
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followers of Elohim or Jehovah, they would read the law and the
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prophets every every Saturday they would read the law and the
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prophets. It was predictable what they
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did. They did the same way all the
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time. So you think about all these
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people that came to synagogue and there was quite a few people
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that did. They were hearing the
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testimonies of what the law said regarding God's holiness and
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man's ability to be righteous unless they followed the law
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100%. The other thing was the prophets
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were given to foretell and prophecy regarding the coming of
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their Messiah. So they were, they weren't
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ignorant. They were aware of the
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Scriptures. But for some reason what they're
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going to hear today in the synagogue is something they
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never heard before and it's going to rock their world.
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They're going to hear about justification by faith alone, by
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grace alone and Christ alone. They had never heard anything
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like that before, nor did Paul until he became a believer,
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right? And when we heard it and we
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became believers, our lives have been completely transformed.
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I'll never be the the same again.
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So it says after this they read the law and the prophets, the
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rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying men and brethren, if
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you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.
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So they were given the privilege to be able to stand up and
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communicate the good news. And what an opportunity.
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I'm sure Paul's sitting on the edge of his seat.
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I can't wait to tell these people the good news.
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They've been hearing bad news their whole life that they got
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to be perfect and no one could be perfect.
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None of us could be perfect. There's none that are righteous,
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is there? There's not one of us that are
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righteous apart from the grace of God.
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So in verse 16 we go now here then Paul stood up and motioning
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with his hand said, men of Israel and you who fear God
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listen. So in this group of people there
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won't only Jewish people, but there was God fears and this was
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the Gentiles. They were proselytes of Judaism
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at the time. They were intrigued with
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historical truth about the Creator, but they didn't have
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all the pieces, nor did the Jewish people.
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So Paul's going to begin to put the puzzle together for them.
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Verse 17, The God of this people, Israel, chose our
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fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in
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the land of Egypt. With an uplifted arm, He brought
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them out of it. So we know in the beginning when
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Moses was chosen to be the deliverer, he was able to be
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called by God the raise up his staff to have that Red Sea open
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up and for the children of Israel to be delivered from the
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bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. So he, we all know the history,
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He brought Israel out through the sea away from the bondage of
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Pharaoh in Egypt. And verse 18 now for a time
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about 40 years, he put up with their way in the wilderness.
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And we know how crazy it was and how they acted.
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After all these miracles of what God had done, how they began to
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complain and forget about the goodness of God and his miracle
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working hand. They began to complain about all
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kinds of things. Not enough water, not good food,
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whatever. God provided mana, he provided
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rock water out of the rock. Miraculously, it still wasn't
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good enough for them. And so God was patient. 40
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years. He put up with their ways in the
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wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven
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nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to
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them by allotment. So they're being reminded as
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Paul's talking about all the things they've heard and been
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taught for years in the synagogue through the Torah,
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through the law and the prophets.
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And so they're probably thinking, well, you know, we
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know all this. What's the point here?
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Why is he? Why is he telling us this?
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Again, He's reviewing to them what God has done.
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No man has done any of this. God has done this all himself
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for their nation because he loved them. 19 refers obviously
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to Joshua when he took over for Moses and went in and took care
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of Jericho and set the people free in the nation to be able to
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go in and get the land that God had promised them.
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Prophetically it says he distributed their land to them
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by allotment. So just like Stevens message in
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Acts 7, Paul had witnessed these things themselves by being a
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Jewish follower of God for years.
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He knew the history of the nation of Israel because he was
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obviously a Jew. And now he's a born again
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Christian. And so we think of the
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opportunity that only God can give us to speak His Word.
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At any given time. We might have plans to want to
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have an opportunity to tell someone about what the Lord's
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done for us. But only God can open up the
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doors in the perfect timing to give us that opportunity and
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that audience to be able to declare the gospel to people.
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And we need to pray for the Lord to give U.S.
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Open doors so that we might be able to do what it is that God's
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called us to do, as Paul and Barnabas are doing here.
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And verse 20. After that he continues as to
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what God has done. And the brothers who teach on
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Wednesday night regarding the Old Testament, we've been
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through all these different books of the Bible in the Old
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Testament, given the history of Israel.
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And it says he gave them judges for about 450 years to sort of
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control and keep things on track.
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So they didn't get so crazy, but they had good judges and they
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had bad judges. And then they did that until
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Samuel the prophet was lifted up and he was a good leader.
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And after that they asked for king.
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So God gave them Saul, who ended up being a bad leader and the
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son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.
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And when he had removed him, he raised up for them.
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David is king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I found
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David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who would do
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my all my will. David is pictured here in a way
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of someone who is beginning to lay the foundations of what it's
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going to look like when Christ becomes the ruling king and
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reigning king during the millennial Kingdom that we're
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all looking forward to that thousand year reign that Christ
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will rule and reign on the earth.
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David was a prototype in some ways, and his life was
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indicative of the Messiah that was to come out of his own seed
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and his loins. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would
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eventually be born. And so all this foundation that
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God's laying here through Paul's teaching is to remind them that
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there's a point to everything God's done since the beginning
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of time, and that point was to eventually bring a Savior named
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Jesus for the whole world. This is not Jewish people, but
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also Gentile people. And so David, we know his
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history from when he was a young man and dealt with the giant
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Goliath and how he grew up and how he loved God and wrote many
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of the Psalms that we also know his downfall and failing with
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Bathsheba. And yet God forgave David for
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his sin when David repented. And David wrote that beautiful
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51st Psalm to remind us of God's goodness, that when we're broken
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over the mistakes we've made in our lives or the tragedies of
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the difficulties that we've been through.
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Bible says that God is near to the broken hearted and those who
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have a contrite heart. Aren't you glad he's that way?
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People maybe will lose patience with you.
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People will perhaps give up on you or walk away from you and
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leave you. But Christ promises he will
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never leave us or forsake us. And he says if we seek Him with
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all of our heart will find him there.
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There's no one like the Lord. And that's 51st Psalm in
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reference to David's downfall is probably one of the most
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beautiful things that you could possibly read on the mercy of
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God, where David prayed to the Lord.
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Take not your Holy Spirit from me.
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Restore to me the joy of my salvation.
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And many of us have been through hard times in life, maybe not
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sinning like David, but maybe other things have happened to us
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and we've lost our joy. We've lost the sense of God's
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intervention in our life and remembering his patience and His
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kindness and how he is always willing to come and bring us
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back to himself, no matter where we've been or what we've done or
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what we've personally gone through there.
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There's no one that will be like that to you in this world, in
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this life, but Jesus. And so he says to the Lord in
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his prayer, create in me a clean heart, O God, which is what we
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all need, clean hearts. And we can't create that in
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ourselves. That only can be done by the
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work of God's Spirit. Creating me a clean heart of God
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and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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Give me this kind of temperament, Lord, that it's
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stable. It's not up and down all the
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time and praising God and complaining, you know, it's just
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like this calm walk of perseverance and trust in God, a
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steadfast spirit. And then he says, then I'll
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teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted
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to you. The work of God through David's
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life really became impactful after he had fallen and gotten
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right with God again. And so when we study the Bible
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and we study these truths of the New Testament, the Old
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Testament, each of us have to think, OK, where am I right now
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with these teachings I'm hearing?
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What does this have to do with my life right now or where I'm
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at, or what I'm thinking or what I'm struggling with?
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It has everything to do with our own lives.
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Because as we read the story of God's love and his redemption,
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his mercy, his patience, it should speak to us that if God's
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been this way to Israel all these years, he's certainly the
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same to us. Even as believers that struggle
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at times that get depressed or get discouraged or get hopeless
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or make mistakes or do stupid things.
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God is not looking for perfect people.
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He's always looking for a broken people that he can heal and
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restore and renew and give hope to again, over and over and over
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again. And then he says in verse 23
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from this man's seed. And that's David according to
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the promise God raised up for Israel as Savior Jesus.
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So the seed that was planted through the relationship that
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David had with his wife and carried on down through
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generations eventually brought forth this Messiah named Jesus.
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It was prophesized and verse 24 after John, this is referring to
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John the Baptist had first preached before his coming, the
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baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
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And as John was finishing his course, he said, Who do you
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think I am? Of course, people were, you
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know, adoring John the Baptist. He was a strange guy.
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He, he wore like weird clothing. He ate locusts and wild honey.
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He was out there man, look like a wild man.
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But yet his message was so dynamic and it compelled
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countless thousands of people to come and listen to the message
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of repentance. So all these people are coming,
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they're under conviction and they're repenting of their sin
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and they're getting prepared for the Messiah because John was the
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one that was to prepare the way of the Lord.
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But John had a check here with these people.
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He said, who do you think I am? They're lifting them up and
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thinking he's great. He says I am not he.
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But behold, there comes one after me, the sandals at whose
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feet I'm not worthy to lose. So.
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So John the Baptist was a very humble man, wasn't he?
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Which is what all we should be as servants of the Lord.
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Who are we? We're just people that have been
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given the privilege to talk about what he's done.
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But we're not worthy to lose the sandals of Jesus either, are we?
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But he chooses to use us. That's the remarkable thing of
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of God's grace. He uses ordinary people.
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And so he, he continues in this, this, this, the same emphasis of
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Paul that Stephen gave in his message, message that God has
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this love and concern and his hand upon the nation of Israel.
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To this day. God has not given up on Israel.
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There's a remnant there that will be very apparent in the
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last days during the Tribulation period, where many Jewish people
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will come to recognize that He's Messiah and they'll be martyred
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for their faith. And those who are alive at the
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second coming, the Bible says they'll see him.
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Every eye will see him when he comes back, coming through the
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clouds and into the strata of the earth and eventually landing
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on the Mount of Olives. It says every eye will see him,
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and it says they will look up and see him whom they've
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pierced, and it'll break their hearts recognizing that they had
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missed him and that He truly is their Messiah.
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The focus of these things that we're looking at here are
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emphasizing what God's done, the focus on what God does. 11 times
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that God chose the fathers. He made the people great.
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He led them out of Egypt. He put up with them in the
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wilderness. He destined 7 nations in the
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land to have their own space in Canaan.
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He gave them land as an inheritance.
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God gave them judges, he gave them Saul.
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He raised up David. God brought Israel a savior
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Jesus as he promised and a prophet John who said he wasn't
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worthy. This remarkable.
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And so we continue in verse 26, men and brethren, this is Paul
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again preaching sons of the family of Abraham.
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They were proud that they were descendants of Abraham.
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And you remember what Paul said, that God could raise up the
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stones to give praise to God. There was nothing special in the
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sense or entitlement of being a child of Abraham.
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It didn't automatically guarantee you salvation unless
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you believe so. There was really no distinction
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between a Jewish person and a Gentile person in God's eyes.
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He came first to his own. The Bible says his own received
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him not, but his picture and his vision of humanity was to be a
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savior for the whole world and all people.
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Thank you for listening to this edition of Living Waters of
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Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching us
24:02
about the book of Acts in this series.
24:05
Acts is a powerful and unique part of Scripture, not just
24:08
because it records the spread of the gospel geographically from
24:12
Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but also culturally.
24:15
Acts shows us how the message of Jesus moved beyond its Jewish
24:20
roots and began to reach the Gentile world.
24:23
What started with Peter leading a small group in the Upper Room
24:26
became a global movement with Paul taking the gospel to
24:30
cities, synagogues, and marketplaces across the Roman
24:34
Empire. Acts captures this vital
24:37
transition and reminds us that the good news of Jesus is for
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all people in every place. May we be inspired to carry that
24:46
same gospel boldly into our world today.
24:50
Living Waters of Grace comes to you from Calvary Chapel,
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Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency.
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Pray about helping support the new station that will reach
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this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Unit 6B. To stay up to date, visit
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calvarychapelonline.com where you can find our teaching
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archive, submit prayer requests, join our e-mail list, or give
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online. If you're outside the area,
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You're so thankful that you joined us today.
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Be sure to tune into the next edition of Living Waters of
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Grace.