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Living Waters of Grace 10.15.25 · 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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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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Whenever we look at their testimony and see how they lived
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and and how they stood strong and, and Paul continually
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reminded us through his teachings that the strength he
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needed was made perfect in his weaknesses, that the power of
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Christ would rest upon him. He knew that he needed the power
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of Christ to rest upon him, to do what he he was called to do,
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and to continually be faithful to what it was that God put on
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his heart. Paul couldn't have had the
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impact on the world for God's Kingdom that he had had without
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God's help. God is the one who softened his
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heart in the 1st place. Paul knew God was leading him
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and he trusted God to provide for any need along the way.
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Today, Pastor Clark is going to encourage you to have the same
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faith in God. You can be sure that when you're
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going where God calls you, God will also give you everything
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you need to accomplish what He wants you to do.
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Just trust Him to do it and be faithful to His Word.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 9 with today's edition
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of Living Waters of Grace. We are in the book of Acts
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today, Acts Chapter 9. If you have your Bibles, turn
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there to Acts Chapter 9 and we're studying about the Apostle
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Paul and his beginning stages of ministry.
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We were talking about his experience on the road to
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Damascus and how the Lord got a hold of him and apprehended him
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miraculously. Saul at that time was named.
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Saul was not really seeking God. He was interested in pursuing
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and persecuting children of God who understood Jesus Christ to
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be the Messiah. Saul, up until the point of this
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encounter, was a persecutor of Christians.
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He didn't have time for them. All he wanted to do was imprison
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them and torture them and torment them.
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And as we studied about Paul's life and how this all came to
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pass, it ceases to cause me to wander and also be amazed that
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there's nothing that God isn't able to do whenever He
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determines to do it. His divine election, His
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sovereignty, He is in control of everything.
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And even that fact of the souls of each person that's been born
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into this world. Saul was the last person who was
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looking for truth at the time. He thought he had the truth as a
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Pharisee and as a member of the Sanhedrin in the Hebrew of
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Hebrews, he bragged at one time of all the designations he had.
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And he studied under the leading of Gamaliel, who was a very
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famous teacher at the time in Judaism.
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He studied from the age of 12 to approximately 21.
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And he was steeped in the in the Jewish culture, in the Jewish
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religion. And so he believed that he knew
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everything that there was to know about spirituality.
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Of course, we know as we study this, and most of us here are
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believers today, that Paul was lost and he was an enemy of
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Christians. And sometimes when we look at
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people and we realize where they come from and what they've been
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through, especially in our world today, we live around so much
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Pagan influence and so much darkness and so much evil that
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we can have a tendency to judge and criticize and and be hateful
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toward people that don't know Jesus Christ.
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But the Lord wants us to have hearts like he has, and that God
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never gives up on anybody. He works daily to apprehend the
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hearts of lost people and to bring them to Himself.
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And none of us know when he's going to surprise someone and
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open their hearts and their minds and their eyes to their
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need of Jesus Christ. And you have many loved ones,
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friends, neighbors, relatives, I'm sure, like I do, that you
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would love to see come to have a saving relationship with Jesus
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Christ, to be born again, to understand God's love.
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But you and I can't make that happen.
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We can't force that to happen. That has to be a work of the
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Holy Spirit, as we've studied in this chapter thus far, and so we
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pick it up somewhere around 19. Whenever Paul had received his
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sight again from Ananias, when Ananias prayed and laid hands
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upon him and says that he had some food.
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At that time he had not eaten for three days.
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He had not drank anything for three days and he received the
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food. He was strengthened and then he
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was also baptized. It tells us in verse 18.
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And, and everybody that gets saved and gets born again needs
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to be baptized. This is a commandment of Jesus
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that we would be baptized. And so Paul was baptized and,
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and then immediately after that, in verse 20, it says he preached
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the Christ in the synagogue's that he is the Son of God.
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So Paul, because of his influence and because of his
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background in Judaism, he would be respected in the synagogue's.
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He would be allowed to go into any synagogue on any Saturday
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and visit and also be given the opportunity to speak because of
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his spiritual pedigree at the time of of being a a Jew and
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also steeped in in the religion of Judaism a little.
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Did anybody know, though, whenever he came in there, that
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he was going to have a different message than he had ever had
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before in the midst of the synagogue?
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There might have been rumors at this time that something
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happened to him. People maybe didn't know clearly
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that he had just become a believer in Jesus Christ.
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They maybe were assuming that he would just have another message
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like he's had many times before on religion and what it means to
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be a Jewish follower of of Jehovah.
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And so it says in verse 21 as he was preaching about Christ being
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the son of God. It says that all who heard were
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amazed and said is this not he who destroyed those who called
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on the name on his name on this name in Jerusalem and has come
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here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the
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chief priest. This is staggering to the people
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who are listening, because just a little while ago he was going
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to go to Damascus to persecute Christians and to destroy them
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and throw them in prison. People were frightened and
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afraid. Of course the people in the
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synagogue would applaud what he was going to do, because they,
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for the most part in the synagogue at this time, didn't
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believe that Christ was a Messiah.
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They thought that Christianity was a false religion, and so
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they were the staggered at the fact that Paul Saul of Tarsus
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right now is preaching in this name of Jesus Christ.
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But in verse 22 it says. But Saul increased all the more
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in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelled in Damascus,
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proving this Jesus is a Christ. So he had the knowledge and the
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expertise to take the Old Testament Scriptures.
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There was no New Testament written at this time.
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And he was able to pinpoint specifically everything in the
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law and the prophets regarding the Messiah and the prophecies
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that were fulfilled by Christ's life and that truly He's the one
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that had been proclaimed from the beginning of time to be the
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Savior of the world. Now we see there's a break in
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between verses 22 and 23. We talked about that in
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Galatians chapter 1. It talks about God sending Saul
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into the deserts of Arabia for approximately 2 to three years
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to hear from the Lord himself regarding the truth of the
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gospel. He would go there and, and be
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alone and just sit and be ministered to by the Holy Spirit
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regarding all the things that Christ wanted him to know.
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This was a a time of preparation and he was not involved in any
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real ministry at the time. This was a time of, of this
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being still before the Lord. And it's interesting.
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He's a mighty man of God, and yet God has him in a holding
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pattern, as He has many of us in holding patterns in different
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times of our lives. We think we're all ready to go
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serve God or do whatever, and that God has other plans many
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times for us. And so that period of time
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between verses 22 and 23, it talks about that in the book of
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Galatians. And so then after that period of
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time, he comes back to Damascus, and it says in verse 23.
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Now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,
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but their plot became known to Saul and they watched the gates
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day and night to kill him. So the plan of the enemies at
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this time of the apostle, that the persecution was beginning to
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occur toward him. Paul, whenever he had
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encountered Christ on the road to Damascus.
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It says in verse 16 of this 9th chapter, this is Jesus speaking.
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It says For I will show him how many things he must suffer for
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my name's sake. Now, if we go over to the book
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of second Corinthians Chapter 11, it the the subtitle in verse
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22 says suffering for Christ. Now, when you read this or you
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think about this, we, we live in a time where we think we're
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suffering because of the culture that we live in.
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And it seems to be very combative against Christianity.
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And it is different things are occurring, different problems
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are beginning to happen. There seems to be an assault
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against marriage for sure, against human sexuality, against
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what kids may learn in school now.
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And all the woke ISM that's out there.
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Today is just a very, very challenging time to be alive as
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a Christian, especially in America.
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But we're certainly not experiencing what the early
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church went through because of their commitment and their
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faithfulness to the Lord. And Paul reviews some of the
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suffering. Jesus said that he was going to
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reveal to him the things he had to suffer for his name's sake.
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The Bible says all who live godly in Christ Jesus will
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suffer persecution. I think the persecution that
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maybe most of us suffer now is more mental and internal and has
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to do with our heart and how we maneuver the challenges of life.
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The enemy, the, the, the, the warfare that we experience, I
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believe as Christians is, is between our temples and our, and
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our mind. And it's very real at times to
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try to cause us to be discouraged or despondent or try
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to cause us to want to quit or be less committed or maybe not
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do the things that God has called us to do.
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There's all kind of, you know, stuff coming at us all the time.
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The Bible talks about the devil being the Prince of the power of
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the air, the media, the radio ways, the television ways, the
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majority of what comes in your home through media and and
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Internet. And these kind of things are
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designed and controlled by the Prince of darkness to try to
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influence us and to 'cause our minds to be distorted and that
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we would begin to think things that aren't true and we would
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begin to believe lies. And so, but anyway, Paul in his
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days not any was he suffering I'm sure internal struggles like
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we do, but these are some of the things that he went through in
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verse 22. He's giving a little bit of
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background. Are they Hebrews So am I are
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they Israelites? So am I are they the seed of
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Abraham? So am I are they ministers of
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Christ And then the question mark, I speak as a fool.
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I am more and these are the things he struggled with and
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laborers more abundant in stripes above measure.
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This represents the beatings in prisons, more frequently in
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deaths, often the Jews. Five times I received 40 stripes
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-1 three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three
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times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in
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the deep, just out in the middle of the ocean.
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In journeys often in perils of waters, and perils of robbers,
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and perils of my own countrymen, and perils of the Gentiles.
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And perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and
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perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren.
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And weariness, and toil, and sleeplessness often.
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In hunger and thirst and fastings often, and cold and
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nakedness beside the other things that come.
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What comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the
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churches, Who is weak? Am I not weak?
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Who has made the stumble? And do I not burn with
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indignation? And so he he talks about these
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difficulties, and then he goes on.
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If I must boast, I will boast into things which concern my
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infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord
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Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I'm not
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lying. And Damascus, the governor under
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Arethas, the king was guarding the city of the Demas scenes.
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And this is what we're reading in Acts right now, with a
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Garrison desiring to arrest me, but I was let down in a basket
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through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.
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And so I can't comprehend personally as a pastor what this
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man had to go through and his calling.
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I think if God revealed everything to us, and if he
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showed Paul everything at the time that he said he would
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reveal to him the things he would suffer for his sake,
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name's sake, it would make any of us say, boy, you know, I
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don't think I want to do this right.
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I don't want to go down this path.
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I don't want to suffer this heartache, this challenge.
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Yeah, but you think about the apostles and the prophets and
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what they went through because of their allegiance to the Lord,
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the suffering, the martyrdom. Someone once told me years ago
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in Bible college, and we talked about spiritual warfare, He
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said. As a young guy, I was only in my
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early 20s. Clark, you haven't seen this
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smoke. You haven't smelled the smoke,
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let alone seen the fire yet. So we're reading the legacy of
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the people that God used to establish Christianity in the
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early stages. And whenever we look at their
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testimony and see how they lived and and how they stood strong
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and and Paul continually reminded us through his
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teachings that the strength he needed was made perfect in his
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weaknesses, that the power of Christ would rest upon him.
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He knew that he needed the power of Christ to rest upon him to do
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what he he was called to do and to continually be faithful to
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what it was that God put on his heart.
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And so we read here that after many days were passed and verse
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23 of Chapter 9 of Acts and the Jews plan to kill him.
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The plot became known to Saul and they watched the gates day
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and night to kill him. They were waiting for him.
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And then this is we read in Corinthians.
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Paul talked about the experience the disciples took him by night
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and let him down through the wall in a large basket.
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What a way to escape, huh? The famous apostle at this point
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in time was given the ability to to get out.
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It wasn't his time to be imprisoned yet.
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Of course, he would be eventually imprisoned and
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eventually be martyred. But this is just the beginning
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stages of of his Apostolic ministry.
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And then it tells us about him and his experience in Jerusalem
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in verse 26. And when Saul had come to
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Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all
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afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple,
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so that they were probably confused.
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They heard stories about his preaching in Damascus in the
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synagogue, and then all of a sudden they don't hear about him
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for a couple years. He's gone.
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He's off the radar screen. They're probably wondering like,
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what was he up to during those two years?
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You see, Paul didn't go after he had gotten saved up to Jerusalem
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to speak to the apostles. He was called to go into the
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desert and hear from the Lord directly regarding the the truth
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of the gospel. Eventually when he met up with
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the apostles in Jerusalem, they knew that he understood the same
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message that Christ had given them.
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He didn't have a different message.
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He had the same message, but they were apprehensive because
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of what his example was. Prior to his conversion.
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He was a dangerous man and he had nothing planned good for
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anybody. So they didn't want to hang out
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with him. They didn't want to see him.
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They didn't want to be with him. But then in verse 27, we read
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about this guy that we read about in Acts 4 named Barnabas.
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And that name means encourager. And we all need a Barnabas in
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our life, someone who encourages us and supports us and stands
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beside us. And so Barnabas took him and
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brought him to the apostles. Now Barnabas was respected.
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Remember he gave a lot of property to the early church and
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they were able to be able to do more things because of the
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wealth that he had provided for the church at the time.
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So he was a trustworthy man. He had a good testimony.
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So when Barnabas brings him in, they they probably think, OK, we
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need to consider what is going to be talked about here.
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And so Barnabas brings him in to the apostles.
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And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road,
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and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly
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at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
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And so here's Barnabas and Paul didn't even really need to speak
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for himself. This witness, eyewitness
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Barnabas knew Paul, heard him, saw the results of what was
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happening as a as a result of his conversion and saying this
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guy's a real deal. You need to trust what God's
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done in his life and get to know him and spend some time with
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him. And after they had had that
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experience there with a few leaders in the church in
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Jerusalem, it says he was with them at Jerusalem coming in and
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going out. So he was given the freedom to
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hang out and to go out and do some things regarding some
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degree of ministry. At the time, he wasn't really
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fully engaged in what the calling was yet, but it says he
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spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against
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the Helenus. Now, Paul had a Greek
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background. He had a Greek culture.
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He grew up in Tarsus and Tarsus had a major university that was
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this is profound and prolific as as the universities in in
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Athens. And he was also steeped in the
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Pagan culture, the arts, you know, he was very well-rounded.
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And so when Christ chose him to be a witness to the Gentiles,
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primarily this was going to be his audience, people that ran
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with this crowd and people that understood these kind of things
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that Paul was exposed to growing up as a young man.
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So he's preaching Christ and he's speaking to these Jewish
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followers of Judaism that were impacted by Greek culture at the
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time. These people didn't really want
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to hear what he had to say. And it says, but they attempted
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to kill him. So right away it it isn't like a
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real easygoing opportunity for Paul.
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He's struggling to be able to do the ministry.
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Not an easy way to start ministry.
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Lots of times people think everything needs to be smooth if
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God's in it, or there should be no problem and everybody wants
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to hear the truth and this kind of stuff.
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Paul wasn't experiencing that at the time, never really did.
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There was different times and seasons where there was
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outpourings of the Holy Spirit and people believe.
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But for the most part, Paul was struggling against a culture
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that was Antichrist, very much like the culture that we live in
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today. Fortunately, no one's trying to
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kill any of us yet. But in other countries they have
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been martyring and killing witnesses of Jesus Christ for
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centuries. And we know as the last days
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dawn in the end times that there will be more of these activities
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in other parts of the world, perhaps even in the in the
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country that we live. We pray not by the grace of God,
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but we need to to be prepared and to be strong in the Lord.
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And So what the church did at the time, they knew that Paul
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had to get out of town, so they brought him down in verse 30 to
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Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.
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So Paul is being sent back home out of Jerusalem, or most of the
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activity is at the time, and he's going to be there for
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approximately 812 years, studying, preparing, perhaps
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working with some of the early church plants in Cilicia and
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Tarsus in Syria, that region. But the Bible doesn't give a lot
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of details on that time that he was there.
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He was there, like I say, 8 to 12 years.
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So think about this. He was in the desert for two to
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three years in a time of silence.
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And now he's going to be sent back home and he's really not
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going to be able to fully be engaged in what it is that's on
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his heart or what he sends God calling them to deuce.
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He had to learn patience. He had to learn the trust in in
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God's plan and not his own. He wasn't striving.
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He didn't argue with these guys. He submitted and humbled
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himself. And so he goes down the Tarsus,
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it says in verse 31. Then the churches throughout all
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Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified.
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So we remember the church at Pentecost started in Jerusalem.
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That's all we heard for a period of time in Acts, the city of
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Jerusalem. And now we see that the church
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has spread into these other regions in Judea and Galilee and
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Samaria. Remember the great Pentecost
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that says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
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upon you should be my by witnesses in all Jerusalem,
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which they were at Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts
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of the earth, and this is happening.
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Thanks for joining us on this journey through Acts.
23:59
On today's edition of Living Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark
24:03
shares that one of the most remarkable things about the book
24:06
of Acts is how it shows the disciples transformation.
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The followers of Jesus we meet here are very different from the
24:15
often confused and fearful disciples in the Gospels.
24:19
After Jesus's death and resurrection, and especially
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through the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles experienced
24:27
a profound change in their hearts and boldness.
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Their faith became unwavering, and they moved forward with
24:34
courage to spread the gospel despite opposition and hardship.
24:39
Acts reminds us that the same Spirit who empowered them is at
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work in US today, shaping our hearts and giving us strength to
24:48
live boldly for Christ. Living Waters of Grace is a
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ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we invite you to join us
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this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Unit 6B. Visit calvarychapelonline.com
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