Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace 10.16.25
Transcript
- 0:03This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
- 0:08Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
- 0:12of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37They were multiplied, they were growing, they were expanding.
- 0:41The crowds were being drawn to the word of God.
- 0:45And, and, and that's what is encouraging because Jesus says
- 0:50if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to myself.
- 0:54If Christ is being lifted up in your heart and your daily life
- 0:57and your activities and your job and your home and your
- 0:59neighborhood community, you will have divine encounters with God.
- 1:03You will have opportunities to tell people about the Lord.
- 1:07It's just going to happen supernaturally.
- 1:09When you're fully surrendered to God, you'll get to see him move
- 1:12through your life more. He'll use you if you're
- 1:15committed to following where He calls when He calls you.
- 1:19Today you'll be with Pastor Clark looking at the conversion
- 1:22of Paul. God used a man who once
- 1:24persecuted Christians to be one of the most influential people
- 1:28ever for Christianity. It may be in small ways or ways
- 1:33you never imagined possible, but God will use you too if you let
- 1:37him. He just wants you to be faithful
- 1:39to do what he says. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
- 1:42book of Acts Chapter 9 with today's edition of Living Waters
- 1:46of Grace. Paul is being sent back home out
- 1:49of Jerusalem, or most of the activity is at the time, and
- 1:52he's going to be there for approximately 812 years,
- 1:56studying, preparing, perhaps working with some of the early
- 2:01church plants in Cilicia and Tarsus and Syria, that region.
- 2:06But the Bible doesn't give a lot of details on that time that he
- 2:10was there. He was there like I say, 8 to 12
- 2:13years. So think about this.
- 2:15He was in the desert for two to three years in a time of
- 2:18silence, and now he's going to be sent back home and he's
- 2:23really not going to be able to fully be engaged in what it is
- 2:27that's on his heart or what he sends God calling them to deuce.
- 2:30He had to learn patience. He had to learn the trust in in
- 2:34God's plan and not his own. He wasn't striving.
- 2:37He didn't argue with these guys. He submitted and humbled
- 2:41himself. And so he goes down to Tarsus,
- 2:45it says in verse 31. Then the churches throughout all
- 2:48Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified.
- 2:53So we remember the church at Pentecost started in Jerusalem.
- 2:58That's all we heard for a period of time in Acts, the city of
- 3:01Jerusalem. And now we see that the church
- 3:04has spread into these other regions in Judea and Galilee and
- 3:09Samaria. Remember the great Pentecost
- 3:11that says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
- 3:14upon you should be my witnesses in all Jerusalem, which they
- 3:17were at Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
- 3:23And this is happening and it says that they had peace and
- 3:27they were edified, meaning they were built up in their faith.
- 3:30It would be hard to have peace under persecution.
- 3:34The Lord got a hold of Paul's life and he was a major
- 3:36instigator of the persecution. He was endorsed by the governing
- 3:40authorities to basically take Christianity down.
- 3:44He was the big influence, the big leader of this, and that is
- 3:47not happening. So the church, even though
- 3:49persecution was occurring, it wasn't to the degree it would
- 3:52have been or was whenever Paul was lost.
- 3:56And it says they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the
- 4:00comfort of the Holy Spirit. Walking in the fear of the Lord.
- 4:05That's something that I believe we all need to understand more
- 4:11deeply. What does it mean to walk in the
- 4:14fear of the Lord? How do we know when we're
- 4:18becoming more like Jesus? Is it based upon how much we
- 4:23know the Bible, or how many people we witness to, or how
- 4:28many people we gave a promise book to or a Bible?
- 4:33The Holy Spirit tells us that His attributes are Lovejoy,
- 4:41peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness and
- 4:44meekness, temperance, self-control.
- 4:49Whenever the Lord is getting a hold of our lives and we're
- 4:52beginning to fear the Lord, we begin to be repelled from sinful
- 5:00lifestyles, sinful patterns, sinful activities that we may be
- 5:05at one time engaged in to a great degree.
- 5:08Even after being believers for a period of time.
- 5:12As we're growing, we're learning to to be holy as He's holy.
- 5:16It's not an overnight experience where we're being made into the
- 5:20image and and likeness of Christ, but you can be certain
- 5:25that you're walking in the fear of the Lord whenever you notice
- 5:30you're becoming more gentle, less abrasive, when you're
- 5:34becoming more humble, when you're becoming less critical,
- 5:39when you're becoming more loving, when you're becoming
- 5:43more patient, when you have more joy in your life, you can be
- 5:48encouraged that you are becoming like Christ.
- 5:51And that's really what it's all about, isn't it?
- 5:54The church is to feed the sheep that we might become more Christ
- 6:03like that when we drive down the road after any given message of
- 6:07wherever we've been in church, that we're thinking about
- 6:11becoming more like Christ, that that should be our desire.
- 6:14That should be our heartbeat. When we see the unchrist like
- 6:20characteristics in our heart, it should bother us and to disturb
- 6:24us that we don't want to be that way.
- 6:25We want to be a different kind of people.
- 6:27We want to live our lives for the purposes of the Lord.
- 6:32And, and so this fear is not this anxiety or anxiousness of,
- 6:38of, of God being upset with us or we're being going to
- 6:42discipline us or, or something. That the fear is a loving,
- 6:46tender work of God's Spirit where he's massaging our heart
- 6:51and renewing our mind and talking to us about things that
- 6:56he wants us to begin to live and does not know about.
- 7:01And that the fear then causes us to want to change, right.
- 7:07We don't fear God. We don't care about change.
- 7:12But when we begin to fear God and we're walking with him to a,
- 7:16a deeper degree, we begin to hear him more and understand his
- 7:23ways. We're, we're begin to slowly
- 7:25become more In Sync with the Spirit who lives in us to want
- 7:31to guide us and make us Christ like we, we're not interested in
- 7:35grieving the spirit or quenching the spirit because that's
- 7:40evidence that there's No Fear of God in US, right?
- 7:44And so this is all work of God and how he, he changes us and,
- 7:49and, and transforms us and, and the fear of the Lord, the Bible
- 7:54tells us is the beginning of wisdom and they depart from evil
- 7:58is understanding not only the fear of the Lord, but they were
- 8:02comforted of the Holy Spirit. I think so much anxiety that we
- 8:07experience in our lives, there's so much nervousness or double
- 8:11mindedness or, or stress or whatever the term might be,
- 8:15depression, despondency, all the things that can affect us many
- 8:19times are a result that if we're not fearing the Lord, the, the
- 8:23Spirit can't comfort us because we're going our own way, doing
- 8:26our own thing right, just living the way we think we should live.
- 8:31And then we have anxiety. If we're not living the way God
- 8:34wants us to live or we're anxious, there's something in
- 8:36our soul that isn't restful. We're, it isn't well with our
- 8:40souls because of this lack of fearing the Lord.
- 8:45When the Lord looks down upon the planet and he sees his
- 8:48people, the people he can most use and work through are the
- 8:53people that are beginning to understand the healthy aspect of
- 8:57fearing the Lord and begin to become more Christ like.
- 9:02And what many times we don't even see it in ourselves.
- 9:04We don't know it that other people pick up on it or they
- 9:07say, you know, you're different. The wife says to the husband,
- 9:10you're, you're so much more patient with me.
- 9:12You're you're, you're, you're more gentle, you're less
- 9:15abrasive or arrogant or obnoxious or whatever the
- 9:19comments might be at times. And, and it should encourage us
- 9:22if our wives say something like that to us, because that means
- 9:26we're becoming a little bit more like Jesus, right?
- 9:29Because we know what we're like without Christ.
- 9:31We know how we live and how we act without the Spirit of God.
- 9:36And we should know the difference when the Spirit of
- 9:39God is at work in our heart. And so then we have this comfort
- 9:43of the Holy Spirit, the, the, the peace of God, because what
- 9:47we're, we're living under his lordship.
- 9:49We want to fulfill the, the purpose of our being here on
- 9:54this planet for whatever long period of time we're here.
- 9:57It's not for my purposes, It's for his purposes.
- 10:02And it's, and it's really hard to hear what his purposes are if
- 10:06I'm not fearing him, if I'm not sitting at his feet and desiring
- 10:12to listen and to have him have his way in my heart.
- 10:17And it's as a result of what was happening here in this church,
- 10:20these churches at the time, because of this experience of,
- 10:24of the fear of the Lord and also the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
- 10:28they were multiplied, they were growing, they were expanding.
- 10:32The crowds were being drawn to the word of God.
- 10:36And and that's what is encouraging because Jesus says
- 10:41if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to myself.
- 10:44If Christ is being lifted up in your heart and your daily life
- 10:47and your activities and your job and your home and your
- 10:50neighborhood, your community, you will have divine encounters
- 10:53with God. You will have opportunities to
- 10:55tell people about the Lord. It's just going to happen
- 10:58supernaturally because God works through vessels of clay like us
- 11:04that are filled with his life. The the purpose of expansion of
- 11:10the Kingdom. We have the Bibles that you guys
- 11:13can grab if you're so inclined, or, or just the promise book.
- 11:16Maybe the people have the Bible already that has never read it.
- 11:20But the promise book is a neat little book and what's beautiful
- 11:24and all the topics in this little book talk about the
- 11:26struggles of of human life and the issues of life and, and the
- 11:31verses are all there. You know about belief.
- 11:33What does it mean to believe? He that believeth on him is not
- 11:37condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already,
- 11:41because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten Son.
- 11:44John 318. John 336.
- 11:47He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he
- 11:51that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
- 11:55God abides on him. Jesus says, I am come a light
- 12:00into the world, that whoever believeth on me should not abide
- 12:03in darkness. John 1246 Verily, verily, I say
- 12:08unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life, just
- 12:12the promises of God. And so someone who who doesn't
- 12:15know the Lord, or maybe knows the Lord but never got into the
- 12:18Word, has a chance to go through this, and all of a sudden, you
- 12:21know, begin to see that the Lord is speaking to them through the
- 12:27Word of God. Thou hast put gladness in my
- 12:29heart more than in the time of their corn and their wine
- 12:33increased. Psalm 4.
- 12:34Seven. They that sow in tears shall
- 12:36reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepest,
- 12:39bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
- 12:42rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
- 12:44Psalm 1/26, 5:00 and 6:00. So we want to expand the word of
- 12:51God in our community and we can do it one-on-one through these
- 12:55kind of tools that the Lord's given us.
- 12:59Now we Segway into Peter. Peter shows up on the scene when
- 13:05Paul went up to Jerusalem. It tells us in Galatians that he
- 13:09spent 15 days with Peter at his house.
- 13:12And boy, that must have been cool.
- 13:13Can you imagine? Like hearing Peter and Paul talk
- 13:15have been fascinating. And, and, and Paul's like, I
- 13:19knew something about you. Weren't you the one that walked
- 13:21on water and you got afraid and then you started going down?
- 13:23Yeah, That was me. Weren't you the one that said
- 13:27that, you know, you didn't know Jesus after you were following?
- 13:32What was that all about, You know, Well, you wimp.
- 13:35Paul's all full of the Spirit now.
- 13:37You're not thinking about, like, denying Christ.
- 13:39But he probably had some interesting conversations with
- 13:41Peter. And Peter and Paul were the
- 13:43foundational guys, along with a few others that the Lord really
- 13:47used in the early days. But Peter now is interesting.
- 13:50He's going up to Joppa, up to Light.
- 13:53I mean, Light is about 25 miles north of Jerusalem.
- 13:57So he's getting out of Jerusalem.
- 13:58The Holy Spirit's moving these guys around now.
- 14:02They're just not hanging in Jerusalem anymore.
- 14:04And so he comes to pass. Peter goes went through all
- 14:07parts of the country that he also came down to the Saints who
- 14:11dwelt at Lyda. Now on the map, you look at Lyda
- 14:13as Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
- 14:17I remember when we flew in there, this would have been the
- 14:19region that the Peter was was working at.
- 14:23And so he came down to the Saints who dwelt at Lyda.
- 14:25So there's believers there. So he's going to, I'm sure, do
- 14:29some teaching, equipping, encouraging.
- 14:31There he found a certain man named Ananias who had been
- 14:35bedridden 8 years and was paralyzed and Peter said to him,
- 14:41Ananias, Jesus of Christ heals you, arise and make your bed.
- 14:46Now this is astounding. Peter didn't do any like laying
- 14:49of hands on this situation here. He just had a word from the Holy
- 14:53Spirit that Christ was going to heal this person supernaturally.
- 14:59He had really nothing to do with it other than being there and
- 15:01telling this man what the Lord was going to do for him.
- 15:04This man was paralyzed for all these years and wasn't able to
- 15:08move. I can't comprehend what that
- 15:10might have been like. And Peter said to him, Jesus the
- 15:14Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.
- 15:18Then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Lina and
- 15:22Sharon saw him and turn to the Lord.
- 15:27They immediately became believers because of the
- 15:30experience of seeing the Lord supernaturally touch this person
- 15:34who was not ever able to move before this miracle that
- 15:39occurred. And then he goes down to Joppa.
- 15:43Joppa's about 10 miles from Lyda.
- 15:47That was one of the first places we saw when we were on the
- 15:49pastor tour in, in Israel. And, and Joppa was the home of,
- 15:55you know, Simon the Tanner and Joppa.
- 15:58There was a certain disciple named Tabatha, which is
- 16:01translated Dorcas, which means gazelle.
- 16:05That's the Greek translation. This woman was full of good
- 16:08works and charitable deeds which she did.
- 16:11So the thought was that Philip, whenever he was taking the
- 16:15gospel after the Ethiopian Union got saved, he was in this
- 16:18general region and he was responsible as one of the people
- 16:22who were set aside to take care of the orphans and the widows.
- 16:25And so he had relationships with perhaps some of these people
- 16:29here and and and believers. And so she had this life of this
- 16:33being a blessing to people. But it happened in those days
- 16:36that she became sick and she died, and when they had washed
- 16:41her, they laid her in the upper room.
- 16:43So she must have been a woman of some degree of wealth, because
- 16:46usually when you died in those days, they put you right away.
- 16:49The body would be decomposing and this kind of stuff.
- 16:51But she was in this upper room, which would signify there was
- 16:54some degree of financial, well, wherewithal.
- 16:58And they washed her. And maybe they knew that Peter
- 17:02was in the area. Maybe the word got done about
- 17:05Ananias that was healed, that maybe he's going to come down
- 17:08here. Who knows?
- 17:09You can't read too much between the lines.
- 17:11But they laid her in this upper room.
- 17:13And since Lada was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that
- 17:17Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him, not
- 17:21the delay and coming to them. So they wanted Peter to get down
- 17:23there ASAP. It's about a day's journey,
- 17:25about 10 miles. Then Peter arose and went with
- 17:28them. And when he had come, they
- 17:30brought him to the upper room and all the widows stood by him
- 17:33weeping. So that the group of widows,
- 17:36this, this woman was a real testimony of, of someone who did
- 17:41many, many blessed works to help other people.
- 17:44She's a real servant. So Peter's up there and on all
- 17:47these widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics in
- 17:51the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with him.
- 17:54So she was very gifted in, in sewing and and making things.
- 17:58We know that Jesus was the one who trained Peter.
- 18:03Peter was an understudy and he would be invited into these
- 18:07places to see the Lord do miracles.
- 18:10He was there in the room when Jesus healed the little girl,
- 18:17Jairus's daughter and the things that Jesus said he he cleared
- 18:21the room out. They had professional mourners
- 18:23there people be paid the mourn, the screaming, yelling, the
- 18:26crying. In this instance these are
- 18:28genuine mourners that knew Dorcas and they were all broken
- 18:32hearted as to what happened. So the first thing Jesus did
- 18:35when he was with Jairus's daughter was he cleared the room
- 18:39out of of all the confusion. And this is what Peter is doing
- 18:44now. Peter puts them out and he
- 18:47kneels down and he prays and turning to the body, he says,
- 18:51Tabatha arise. Jesus said to Jairus's daughter
- 18:56Talithia arise, Tabatha Kume means to to rise and she opened
- 19:01her eyes. Now this is a day after she
- 19:03died. Her body would have been
- 19:04starting to decompose. And we know Lazarus had talked
- 19:07about the smell of the of the body.
- 19:10If he came out of the tomb, what was it going to be like after
- 19:12being dead for a period of time? Already her organs are shutting
- 19:17down and all these kind of things.
- 19:18But that doesn't mean anything to the Lord.
- 19:21When he's going to do a miracle. He does a miracle.
- 19:23And it it completely defies anything that we would
- 19:26understand scientifically or medically.
- 19:28That's why it's called a miracle.
- 19:30And she opens her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat
- 19:35up, she wasn't groggy. I mean, she dislike immediately
- 19:38resuscitated. Basically she was dead, but she
- 19:41was brought back to life. This is not resurrection.
- 19:44When you're resurrected, you know, you never die again.
- 19:48Jesus said I am the resurrection of the life he that believeth in
- 19:51me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
- 19:52And he that believeth to me shall never die.
- 19:54So when when you're resurrected, you don't have to worry about
- 19:57dying again. You know, you're out of here,
- 19:59man, it's it's over. But anyway, you know, she was
- 20:02healed here. And of course, eventually she
- 20:04would die. You know, just like anybody else
- 20:06that had the experience of being raised from the dead.
- 20:09And he gave her his hand and lifted her up.
- 20:12And when he had called the Saints and widows, he presented
- 20:15her alive. And it became known throughout
- 20:18all Joppa and many believed on the Lord.
- 20:22So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon a
- 20:26Tanner. So we're not going to go into
- 20:28chapter 10, but think about this.
- 20:30Peter is a Jewish Christian, deeped in the history of
- 20:36Judaism, understands the issues of kosher and uncleanness, and a
- 20:42lot of this stuff is just religious stuff, had nothing to
- 20:45do with real spirituality. But nonetheless, it took a while
- 20:49to not be uptight about tradition and Jewish customs.
- 20:54So for the fact that Peter is staying with a Tanner who would
- 20:59be represented as someone who's in a industry that's very
- 21:02unclean, and they said that you have to be so many miles outside
- 21:06the city and you can't be around like uncleanness.
- 21:09Well, he lived there with this guy.
- 21:11So Simon would have been, I'm sure, a deep follower of Christ.
- 21:15He opened his house up to hospitality.
- 21:17He let Peter hang out there as a base of operation.
- 21:20Maybe Peter was learning the trade.
- 21:22He was a fisherman. Maybe he needed to make some
- 21:24money too, to help for his livelihood.
- 21:26So he's working with Simon the Tanner in Joppa.
- 21:30I actually saw that place right on the coast of the
- 21:34Mediterranean, quite a a view and very interesting thinking
- 21:37about what who was in that that particular place that I got a
- 21:40chance to stand in and think about South.
- 21:43Exciting things in the book of the act.
- 21:45The most exciting things I think that take away is that it's all
- 21:49about the works of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy
- 21:53Spirit is still occurring today in your life and mine.
- 21:57And my prayer is that as we study more of the book of the
- 21:59Acts, our faith is growing. It's being more dependent on the
- 22:03Spirit of God and less dependent on our own abilities.
- 22:06And we're trusting God for great things and with the gospel and
- 22:10in our families, in our lives, in our ministries, and in the
- 22:13communities that we're all from, and with the people we get to
- 22:17minister to and get to serve, the Bible promises us we will
- 22:21receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.
- 22:25Amen. And may the Spirit of God be
- 22:28poured afresh upon us today. God the Holy Spirit, Father God,
- 22:32we thank you today for your word.
- 22:34We thank you for the history that we can learn.
- 22:37It builds our faith. It helps us to understand that
- 22:40the Christian life is is not an easy life.
- 22:42Many, many times we see what Paul went through in the
- 22:46challenges in the beginning stages of his ministry.
- 22:50And Lord, we'll continually read about the persecution against
- 22:53the church in the book of the Acts.
- 22:54But it it didn't stop your work. It didn't prevent your power
- 22:58from being manifest and from you accomplishing your will.
- 23:02Remind us, Lord, in the days that we live, regardless of what
- 23:05we hear on media, what we see on TV, what we read.
- 23:09Lord, it has nothing to do with circumventing your power.
- 23:13Because, Lord, you have all power.
- 23:16And Lord, help us to trust in that.
- 23:18Help our minds to be fueled with the possibilities of the work of
- 23:23the Holy Spirit in situations that seem impossible.
- 23:27Help us, Lord, to have the mind of Christ where you tell us in
- 23:31Your Word that You have given us the mind of Christ, that we
- 23:34might see this cosmos, this system, that we live in this
- 23:38world, this universe as one that is controlled by you.
- 23:41Father, we pray your blessing upon us and pray your blessing
- 23:45upon your sheep here today. And that, Lord, we would all go
- 23:48out looking for opportunities this week, somehow, somewhere,
- 23:52to someone to share You Lord with.
- 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 outwards, 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.