Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace 09.18.25
Transcript
- 0:03This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
- 0:08Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
- 0:12County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37The gospel isn't the gospel without the proclamation of not
- 0:41only the death and the burial. You got to tell him the rest of
- 0:44the story. He rose again on the third day,
- 0:46because without a resurrection there is no power in Christ's
- 0:50death, is there? Only through the fact that he
- 0:53truly was the Messiah. And he came and he died, He was
- 0:56buried and he rose again according to the Scriptures on
- 0:59the third day. This Jesus Goddess raised up
- 1:03which we are all witnesses. The gospel can shine like a
- 1:07beacon, but it's incomplete without the full truth.
- 1:11In today's message, Pastor Clark unveils how the good news isn't
- 1:15just Jesus's death and burial, but his resurrection on the
- 1:19third day. Without that victory, his death
- 1:22would hold no power. Scripture affirms he died, was
- 1:27buried, and rose, proving he's the Messiah.
- 1:30You're called to share this whole story, not just parts.
- 1:34His resurrection is the heartbeat of your faith, showing
- 1:38God's Immaculate and limitless power over death.
- 1:42Now here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 2 with
- 1:46today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
- 1:50I was praying Lord, I prayed it. The name I drop here will be of
- 1:55some influence. I know, Officer such and such.
- 1:58OK. He goes back to the car.
- 2:01He probably called him up and said, you know, this character
- 2:03by the name of Clark, you know? But fortunately, he let me go
- 2:06and I was grateful. But I said, Lord, forgive me for
- 2:09not paying it. I wasn't like, I don't think
- 2:11intentionally wanting to put the pedal to the metal, but I was
- 2:14sort of just daydreaming when I was driving.
- 2:16You ever do that and the next thing you know you're going much
- 2:19faster than you should be and you suffer the consequences.
- 2:23But the whole idea is this idea of wine influence.
- 2:27They think these guys are drunk. Paul teaches in the book of
- 2:30Ephesians that the influence of alcohol has negative effects
- 2:35when it's controlling us. That why we absolutely need to
- 2:38be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
- 2:41And so in verse 14 and Peter, he stands up with the 11 I I I'm
- 2:46encouraged with this and pastor Lewis I'm sure is too anybody
- 2:50that's called to preach the gospel.
- 2:53He's calling people that he can work in their lives to perfect
- 2:57them for the work of the ministry, but he never looks
- 3:01down and says well, I'm going to wait till such and such is
- 3:04perfect and then I might use them.
- 3:06We know Peter, shortly before this incident, was denying the
- 3:11Lord right? He denied him three times, and
- 3:16now he's chosen by God, the Holy Spirit, to bring forth the first
- 3:21evangelistic message after this experience of Pentecost.
- 3:28That should really encourage all of us that Peter was used to do
- 3:35something that was remarkable by the work of God's Spirit.
- 3:39So Peter, standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said to
- 3:45them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be
- 3:49made known to you, and heed my words, for these are not drunk
- 3:53as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
- 3:56But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
- 4:00Now this particular section of Scripture in Joel is beginning
- 4:04to show forth the whole economy of God until the 2nd coming of
- 4:09Christ, when he establishes His Kingdom and the millennial reign
- 4:12in Jerusalem. That's when this section of
- 4:14Scripture will be completely fulfilled at that particular
- 4:18time. But there is indicators here
- 4:20that this is the beginning of this movement of God in the last
- 4:24days. And the last days begin from the
- 4:26day of Pentecost until the day of Christ return.
- 4:30So we've been in the last days for several thousand years.
- 4:33So that's because a lot of stuff's going on right now in
- 4:36the world does not mean literally that tomorrow Jesus is
- 4:40coming. And these are the last days.
- 4:42This last day, phenomena and experience of world insanity and
- 4:47crisis and evil dictators and rulers and sin and all the other
- 4:51things that comprise human existence have begun in Genesis,
- 4:56but in the Church age, they began at Pentecost.
- 4:59The last days before Christ's second coming will be fulfilled
- 5:02at His second coming. And so this is the prophecies
- 5:06that are beginning to be fulfilled.
- 5:08It shall come to pass in the last days, says God.
- 5:11I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
- 5:13Your sons, your daughters shall prophecy.
- 5:15Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall
- 5:18dream dreams. And my men servants, and on my
- 5:21maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they
- 5:24shall prophecy. And I will show wonders in
- 5:27heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath.
- 5:29Blood and fire and vapor, smoke. The sun shall be turned Into
- 5:32Darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great
- 5:36and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that
- 5:39whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
- 5:45And that's the gospel, right? And the ideas of prophesying is
- 5:50proclaiming the word of God, speaking forth the truth of God.
- 5:54Men and women can do that equally as God empowers them.
- 5:58You give a witness somewhere, you give a testimony.
- 6:01It isn't for telling the future per SE.
- 6:03That's a very rare thing because we got the future dictated in
- 6:06this book, Genesis through Revelation.
- 6:08We know what God's going to do and what's going to come to
- 6:10pass. But prophesying is the ability
- 6:13to, you know, exhort people, warn them, edify, build them up
- 6:20and comfort them. That's the real true meaning of
- 6:22prophecy. The apostle Paul said, I wish
- 6:24all of you would. Prophecy meaning that you would
- 6:28in your ministry, warn people, build people up and comfort
- 6:33them. That's something that we should
- 6:36all want to emulate, right? We should all want to have that
- 6:38gift occurring in our lives to be useful to God.
- 6:44Visions and dreams, people have them.
- 6:48Sometimes they're caused by eating too much pizza the night
- 6:51before. But I'm not negating the fact
- 6:55that God can't speak through a dream or a vision.
- 6:59But these things will increase in magnitude during the time of
- 7:05right prior to the return of Lord.
- 7:07Some of these phenomenas in the heavens haven't occurred yet.
- 7:10Of course, some commentators try to tie these into what happened
- 7:13when Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70.
- 7:16It looked pretty traumatic when Rome sacked the city.
- 7:20But this what is being depicted here and Acts is unlike anything
- 7:25that the world has seen yet. And these signs will be
- 7:28obviously near the end of the Tribulation, right prior to the
- 7:32return of Christ of His second coming, when He establishes His
- 7:36Kingdom and rules and reigns in Jerusalem.
- 7:39And then Peter continues, Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus
- 7:43of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you, by miracles,
- 7:47wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst,
- 7:50as you yourselves also know Him, being delivered by the
- 7:54determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have
- 7:58taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom
- 8:02God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was
- 8:06not possible that he should be held by it.
- 8:09For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before
- 8:13my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
- 8:18Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad.
- 8:21Moreover, my flesh also my will rest in hope.
- 8:25For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow
- 8:28your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the
- 8:32ways of life. You will make me full of joy in
- 8:35your presence. Of course, this is the
- 8:37fulfillment of what Christ experienced.
- 8:40Men and brethren, let me speak in verse 29 freely to you of the
- 8:44patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and His tomb is
- 8:48with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
- 8:52I knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the
- 8:55fruit of His body according to the flesh, He would raise up the
- 8:59Christ as seed coming through David would raise up the Christ
- 9:03to sit on the throne. He, foreseeing this, spoke
- 9:06concerning the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
- 9:10left in hell or hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
- 9:14This Jesus God hath raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
- 9:19The Gospel isn't the gospel without the proclamation of not
- 9:24only the death and the burial. You got to tell him the rest of
- 9:26the story. He rose again on the third day.
- 9:29Because without a resurrection there is no power in Christ's
- 9:33death, is there? Only through the fact that He
- 9:35truly was the Messiah. And He came and He died, He was
- 9:39buried and He rose again according to the Scriptures, on
- 9:42the third day. This Jesus goddess raised up,
- 9:45which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the
- 9:49right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
- 9:53promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now
- 9:57see and hear. So all this is ordained by God.
- 10:00If you don't think God is in control, read this later on
- 10:03slowly. God is sovereign.
- 10:06When Christ had to die that terrible death.
- 10:08This was preordained by God before the foundation of the
- 10:11earth. There was no mistake even though
- 10:14the Jewish people were guilty, as we all are because of our sin
- 10:18of having Christ crucified. Nothing was out of control from
- 10:22the throne room of heaven at at any time in in human existence,
- 10:26nor will there ever be any time when anything is out of control.
- 10:30And the purpose of what they're experiencing right now was also
- 10:34ordained by God from the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit,
- 10:38which they are all experiencing right now.
- 10:41He poured out this which you now see and hear.
- 10:45This is all the work of a sovereign God, who has
- 10:49everything under control. For David did not ascend into
- 10:53the heavens, but he says to himself, The Lord said to my
- 10:56Lord, sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your
- 10:59footstool. Therefore let all the House of
- 11:02Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you
- 11:06crucified, both Lord and Christ. Amen to that.
- 11:13Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.
- 11:17And this is the power of the Word of God through the vessel
- 11:23of God, empowered by God, the Word.
- 11:30When it goes forth, God promises it will not return void.
- 11:34It will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it.
- 11:37There's nothing you or I can do to invalidate the power of the
- 11:41Word. We can reject it.
- 11:42We can ignore it. We can walk away from it.
- 11:44We can choose to not believe it. But it doesn't negate the fact
- 11:48that the Word, from God's vantage point, will never come
- 11:51back to him empty. It'll accomplish the purposes
- 11:54for which He sends it, whether it's to save you today and to
- 12:00cast you into the outer darkness through the preaching of the
- 12:04Word. That doesn't accomplish is all
- 12:06this. And He chooses through the
- 12:08preaching of the Word to save some.
- 12:12This is what He chose. This is the methodology.
- 12:15He chooses us as people to proclaim the gospel to people.
- 12:20And it isn't up to us whether they believe or they don't
- 12:22believe. We're just to communicate it.
- 12:25And when we communicate it, it has power.
- 12:28Not your power, not my power, but His power.
- 12:33And His word is anointed. His word is all powerful, and it
- 12:40accomplishes the purposes for which He sends it.
- 12:45So when they hear this, and perhaps when you hear it today,
- 12:48and when I hear it, there should be a conviction in my heart that
- 12:51God is true. He's pure, He's holy, He's
- 12:54righteous. I need a savior or I'm a
- 12:58Christian, but I need to get deeper in my ways and my walk
- 13:01with God. I need to allow Him to take over
- 13:05more control of my life. I need to surrender things that
- 13:08are in the way and things that are quenching His spirit and
- 13:11things that are grieving His spirit.
- 13:13I need to allow God to remove anything in my life that's in
- 13:16the way so that He can have His way with this short life that
- 13:21He's given to each of us. So they're convicted.
- 13:25Cut to the heart means there's a problem right here.
- 13:28It's getting to me right here. It's one thing for it to get to
- 13:31my mind and I think a little bit about it, and then I forget
- 13:33about it. Later when it's here, it's doing
- 13:36some surgery and it's beginning to cause something to change
- 13:41internally. Something's happening.
- 13:44Wonderful. At this point in time, they said
- 13:48to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
- 13:52shall we do? And that's someone who's aware
- 13:58of the fact that they're lost and what they're hearing is
- 14:02true, and now they need a solution, They need an answer.
- 14:06And Peter says to them, repent. And repent means to turn from
- 14:12one way of living and one position of life toward what God
- 14:16says we should do, turn away from sin and turn to God.
- 14:22Repentance is not beating yourself up in an altar and and
- 14:26crying for three hours and hoping your emotion.
- 14:29You think we'll get God's focus and he'll pay attention if
- 14:32you're really all out of sorts or whatever.
- 14:34No, repentance is like the guy in the pigpen that left his
- 14:38father's wealth and and squandered it and he's finally
- 14:41dead one day and the pigpen saying I shouldn't be here, I
- 14:44shouldn't be living like this. It's crazy.
- 14:46My dad, you know, he, I'm going back home.
- 14:49This is not the way I want to live anymore.
- 14:51He repented. He turned from the immoral way
- 14:54of living and the and the self centeredness and the destructive
- 14:57path of life and he turned and he started heading home toward
- 15:02his father. Peter tells him repent without
- 15:06repentance, without any turning, there is no salvation and only
- 15:11God can see the heart. Whether it turns, of course,
- 15:14God's the one that makes a hard turn too.
- 15:16That's another mystery. And I'm going to get into all
- 15:18that today. It takes a long time, but all I
- 15:21know is that the simple gospel is the preaching of the crosses
- 15:26of them that are perishing foolishness, right?
- 15:29People that are on their way to hell, That's a joke.
- 15:31You guys are crazy. But unto us who are saved, and
- 15:35that's the majority of us here today, I'm sure it's the power
- 15:38of God and the salvation to everyone that believes, right?
- 15:42We've experienced this. That's why we worship.
- 15:44That's why we come here and gather to worship Him and to
- 15:47follow him. Repent and let everyone of you
- 15:51be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
- 15:54sins. And you shall receive the gift
- 15:57of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to
- 16:00your children and to all who are afar off, as many as our Lord
- 16:05our God will call. And so the simple gospel,
- 16:09repent. Already I'm turning, I'm coming
- 16:11to Peter with the other thousands of people, 3000.
- 16:15I need salvation. I want to have my sins forgiven.
- 16:19And so they're all lining up there and they're all going to
- 16:22be baptized. The baptism is the outward sign,
- 16:26the picture to those who are there that I am now a follower
- 16:30of Jesus Christ. It isn't what saved them.
- 16:33They were saved when when they were convicted and they
- 16:36believed. OK.
- 16:37And the the evidence of their belief was that they turned
- 16:40toward God. And then the evidence in the
- 16:42reality of the fact that they want to, you know, unite with
- 16:45this new movement called the way the birth of the church.
- 16:50They had to be publicly baptized.
- 16:51And baptism was a death sentence for a lot of people because if
- 16:55they saw you being baptized, they'd tie you in with what they
- 16:58called was a religious sect and they would try to martyr you and
- 17:02get rid of you. OK, Pretty hard to do when you
- 17:05got 3000 people doing it at one time, though.
- 17:07It was a quite, quite a powerful move of God.
- 17:10And so they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy
- 17:13Spirit. And, and you know, this isn't
- 17:15that you don't some people I'm just going to baptize in the
- 17:17name of Jesus Christ. No, Jesus said on the mouth
- 17:21before he ascended. You baptize them in the name of
- 17:23the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So this isn't like a different
- 17:27kind of baptism, but it is focused on the Trinity being
- 17:31baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
- 17:34and what will happen whenever they are moved to do this work
- 17:39of God in their hearts, God's doing the work of belief, Then
- 17:43the evidence of their new life occurs, and the most important
- 17:48evidence that they're truly born again is that they'll receive
- 17:51the Holy Spirit. He'll come in and dwell in them
- 17:53and he'll live in them and be with them forever.
- 17:57I don't know how people can live these days life without the Holy
- 18:02Spirit. The the tragedy, though, the
- 18:05Church of Jesus Christ has tried to do his work without the Holy
- 18:09Spirit, and that's why it's so anemic in the world.
- 18:16And how can the work of God become more empowered by God?
- 18:23It only can get stronger. I believe by us become more
- 18:28desperate for a deeper walk with God, that our lies would by
- 18:35God's grace, begin to become supernaturally empowered at a
- 18:40different level than maybe we've experienced because we've let
- 18:46things get in the way. We all have the cares of the
- 18:50world. Look what's happening in the
- 18:52world. If it's getting you offset and
- 18:55all worked up, it's going to drain you spiritually.
- 18:57The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches.
- 19:02If my whole life is focused on my wealth and I'm absorbed by my
- 19:08material possessions, it's going to drain me spiritually.
- 19:15And then the lust of other things.
- 19:16Jesus says, 'cause His word to become not empowered.
- 19:22So we can know this Bible inside and out.
- 19:24We can know the truth, we can know the doctrine, we can know
- 19:26the history. But if those three things are in
- 19:29the way in any of our lives, then we are quenching the work
- 19:34of God's Spirit in our lives and we're grieving the Spirit.
- 19:39We, we wound, we hurt the Spirit.
- 19:42You can hurt my feelings, I can hurt your feelings and that's
- 19:45not good. But boy, you know, hurting God,
- 19:48wounding the Spirit of God, very, very serious.
- 19:54So my sin and your sin is what hurts our God.
- 20:02So we want to become more surrendered.
- 20:04We want to become more yielded. And you know, perhaps today you
- 20:08might be inclined to come forward just you and the Lord
- 20:11and say, Lord, these things are in the way of my life.
- 20:15Now I want to publicly declare before you and before this
- 20:18people. That I want to go deeper with
- 20:21you. You can do it in your seat, you
- 20:23can do it in front, you can do it in the car on the way home.
- 20:25But somehow this coming to some kind of sense in your life that
- 20:29you want more of God and less of yourself.
- 20:32I know I do. I mean, this is something I
- 20:34think about every day. This not when I'm preaching on
- 20:36this on on a Sunday. How can I get closer to the Lord
- 20:42and how can I become more of a blessing to him and to you guys?
- 20:47That's my desire. We always remember His death,
- 20:51His burial's resurrection, and I'd like to also think more
- 20:57about this indwelling Holy Spirit that's in us.
- 21:03If there's anything there today in my heart that's in the way of
- 21:07His will for my light, that he would make it clear to me.
- 21:11And, and I might not be able to resolve it today, but at least
- 21:15my mind is aware of it now. Maybe because the Holy Spirit's
- 21:18showing me. And then I can work on that
- 21:20right in the days ahead with the Lord's help, I can see him help
- 21:24me through what it is I need to to grow in.
- 21:28And no, no guilt trips, no condemnation.
- 21:30It's just this recognition of there's no end to how deep we
- 21:33can go until we're out of this world.
- 21:36And the Bible says then we'll see him as he is or we will see
- 21:39him and be like him because we we shall see him as he is.
- 21:42But on this side of heaven. It's a lifelong process, isn't
- 21:45it, of becoming more like him. And it doesn't happen overnight,
- 21:48but it does significantly happen when we come to these points in
- 21:52our life where we decide to just say, Lord, I'm done with this.
- 21:56I want to surrender that. Lord.
- 21:59We're just so grateful for your patience with us, how much you
- 22:02love us, how gentle you are to us, Lord, how you've convicted
- 22:07us so many times that we didn't listen and we offended you, we
- 22:12wounded you, we grieved you, we quenched you.
- 22:15And it was stupid. Because Lord, you want to pour
- 22:18out blessings, You want to bring living waters from your throne
- 22:23into our hearts to be poured out to others.
- 22:26And we so often, Lord, allow trivial things to to get in the
- 22:30way. Self centeredness,
- 22:32unforgiveness, bitterness, Lord's selfishness, our own
- 22:37agendas, our own will. Lord, you know what we're like
- 22:40and you still work with us. You still love us.
- 22:43And so Lord, each of us today we to give to you whatever it is
- 22:47that you're asking us for, to be willing to listen to you about
- 22:50whatever it is you might want to show us.
- 22:54So Lord, we can be prepared. Like Peter was that day.
- 22:58Whenever you forgave him for the denial, you lifted him up.
- 23:02You told him to get back up into the battle, and You empowered
- 23:06him. You poured out your spirit upon
- 23:08him and filled him. And Lord, he was a different man
- 23:11than he was that night when he was trembling, denying you.
- 23:14He spoke boldly. Lord, Your word and Your word
- 23:17was effectual and the preaching and it brought many to
- 23:21salvation. Lord, we know that You want to
- 23:25use each of us in different ways, Lord.
- 23:28So Lord, I pray for your people today that you would bless them
- 23:30and encourage them and, and help them to see the, the growth in
- 23:34their own life as they surrender to you.
- 23:36Show them, Lord, your pleasure as they surrender certain things
- 23:40and, and, and allow you to change them to become more like
- 23:43you. That's that's the purpose of
- 23:44your church. And we would become more like
- 23:47you, Lord Jesus. So Lord, whatever it is,
- 23:50whatever it is that's been brought to you today, Lord, we
- 23:52just lay at your feet and we thank you.
- 23:57We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living
- 24:00Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through
- 24:03the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the
- 24:06history of the early church immediately after Jesus's
- 24:10ascension. It gives us a front row seat to
- 24:13how the Gospel began to move outward, starting in Jerusalem
- 24:17and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire in just three
- 24:20decades. A small group of frightened
- 24:23ordinary believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement
- 24:27that transformed the known world.
- 24:30Acts is not just a history lesson.
- 24:32It's a reminder of what God can do when His people are
- 24:35surrendered, obedient and filled with the Holy Spirit.
- 24:40Their perseverance still inspires us today.
- 24:44May we follow their example and live faithfully for Christ in
- 24:47our own time. We hope today's message
- 24:50encouraged you. Living Waters of Grace is a
- 24:53ministry of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland.
- 24:56If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we'd love to have you join
- 25:00us in person. Our Sunday service begins at
- 25:0210:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
- 25:08Be sure to visit calvarychapelonline.com to
- 25:12confirm times and learn more. If you are in the Greensburg
- 25:15area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency.
- 25:20Please pray about supporting this outreach.
- 25:23Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
- 25:31Stay connected through Facebook, YouTube, or our Calvary Chapel
- 25:35Westmoreland app. Join our e-mail list, submit
- 25:39prayer requests, and give online all at calvarychapelonline.com.
- 25:46Thank you for tuning in and spending this time in God's
- 25:48Word. Be sure to join us again for
- 25:50Living Waters of Grace.