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Living Waters of Grace 11.13.25 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
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County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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The Bible tells us faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
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word of God. Even today, despite listening,
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Holy Spirit will increase your faith because the power of of
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faith comes from the word of God.
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And so this group of people in Berea are just amazing and
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fascinating people. Therefore many of them believed.
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Why did they believe? Were they found in the
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Scriptures that the things he was teaching were true?
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That's why they were able to have the confidence to believe
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in what it was they were hearing and what was being taught.
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What are the most important things to bring when you visit a
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new place? Well, a map should be close to
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the top of your list. Whether you're in a new city or
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exploring a National Park, having a map or a compass is a
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good way to make sure you can find your way when your
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surroundings become unfamiliar. Today, Pastor Clark reminds you
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that God's Word is the map you need to find your way through
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life. And becoming intimately familiar
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with that map will help you grow your faith in the Lord.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 17 with
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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Jason is being accused here as harboring them or giving them a
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safe place to be, and these are all acting contrary to the
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decrees of Caesar. So they're basically saying that
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Paul and Silas are causing a rebellion against Caesar as a
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king, and that was never the case.
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Jesus was accused of causing problems in the political arena.
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Jesus could care less about the political arena, he said.
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My Kingdom isn't of this world. Politics isn't what gets the
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Kingdom established here in the earth.
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Jesus Christ is the only one that can establish the Kingdom,
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and the Kingdom isn't of this world.
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It's not of America or Russia or China or Saudi Arabia or the
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Mideast or Africa or whatever. It's a supernatural Kingdom that
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Christ is going to bring forth when he returns again.
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And that's what our eyes need to be on, not what happens 2 years
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from now in Washington. Now I have my desires and you do
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too. But whether they come to pass or
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not is immaterial to the Kingdom of God.
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Because Christ said He will build His church and the gates
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of hell will not prevail against it.
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His church isn't dependent upon Republicans or Democrats or
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communists or socialists. His Kingdom is rooted in
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supernatural power. He said His Kingdom will come
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and when his Kingdom comes, it'll last forever.
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There will be no war, no nation, no person, no leader that can
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tear or destroy or circumvent the Kingdom of God.
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And so all this upheaval that's happening throughout the ages in
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the book of the Acts to the day that we live now, people are
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paranoid about people like us that have a stand for the Lord
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Jesus. And so they were saying that
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there's another King Jesus. Well, yeah, King Jesus, he is
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the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.
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He's been that before the foundation of the earth.
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And that's his throne. And he's on the throne in spite
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of what we see happening in this world today.
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His will will be done as it is in heaven.
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It will be done on earth. He promises that in his prayer,
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the Lord's Prayer. And so they're having to listen
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to this nonsense of this crowd, these authorities at the time
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and these comments that are being made.
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And as they're saying this, it says in verse 8, and they
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troubled the crowd and the rulers of this city when they
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heard these things. So they're really getting
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uptight. We got a problem here.
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There's an insurrection going on there.
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They want to bring down Caesar and they're thinking mentally,
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if Caesar is diminished in the eyes of the city of
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Thessalonica, they'll lose all the benefits of being part of
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the Roman Empire. It was all self-serving
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politics. So when they then took security
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from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
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So the whole deal was Jason had to give them a certain amount of
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money, promising them that he would get Paul and Silas out of
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the community and then he get his money back.
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So verse 10. Then the brethren immediately
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sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.
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So I don't want to lose any money here.
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Paul and Silas, you know you, I mean, we're glad you're here,
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but you're probably better off going on down the road now,
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going somewhere else. So when they arrived, they went
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into the synagogue of the Jews and now they're in this place
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called Berea, this other city, these people in Berea it says in
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verse 11, very powerful. A comment made about these
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people, may it be said of us, these were more fair minded than
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those in Thessalonica and that they received the word with all
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readiness and search the Scriptures daily to find out
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whether these things were so. We need to be Bereans.
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I'm thankful for the focus that Calvary Chapel has around the
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world and their churches to go through the Bible
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systematically, verse by verse, line upon line, precept upon
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precept. I don't have the right or the
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privilege to make it up as I go or to go somewhere that the
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Bible doesn't tell us to go. You know, we're locked into a
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responsibility as teachers to teach the whole council of God.
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And the privilege of being able to do that is we learn things
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like we're learning today. And I hate to say it, but in
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most churches a day you will not hear this kind of teaching. 30
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years ago, a lot of the Bible churches taught this way.
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Nowadays there's less and less. It says in the last days there
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will be a famine for the word of God.
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Men will be lovers in themselves rather than lovers of God and
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it'll be hard to find places that teach sound doctrine.
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And so these Bereans were already developed by the power
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of God to does not take anything they heard lightly and say,
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well, this guy taught this. He seems to know the Bible.
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So I guess it's true. You have to know the Bible like
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I'm responsible to know the Bible.
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All of you guys are responsible to know the Scriptures so that
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when you're listening, if something's going the wrong way,
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you're going to know right away it's going the wrong way.
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It's going to convict you, it's going sideways, it's not true.
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And you're going to hold the teacher accountable to something
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that they taught that isn't founded in the scriptures.
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It's fascinating. And in Second Timothy chapter 1,
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he talks about this importance of preaching of, of the word of
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God and of sound doctrine. It's important to not make it
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up. It's important to, to stay with
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the truth. You know, whenever we don't stay
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with the truth, we're going to, we're going to be in falsehood.
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You know, Second Timothy 113 hold fast the form of sound
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words which thou has heard from me in faith and love, which is
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in Christ Jesus. That's being spoken to Timothy
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and the church. And this is your responsibility
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as well as mine to hold fast to the form of sound doctrine.
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And so as we're studying this, these Bereans understand the
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importance of sound doctrines. They're searching.
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They're just not listening. They have the ability to read
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these manuscripts or how the scrolls, whatever they had at
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the time. He's talking about Isaiah.
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What did Isaiah really say in chapter 53?
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I want to see it for myself and they probably found it and
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underlined it or whatever memorized it to find out whether
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these things were so it's really important for you and I to know
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that these things are so the Bible tells us faith comes by
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hearing and hearing by the word of God.
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Even today, just by listening, Holy Spirit will increase your
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faith because the power of of faith comes from the word of
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God. And so this group of people in
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Berea are just amazing and fascinating people.
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Therefore many of them believed. Why did they believe?
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Were they found in the Scriptures that the things he
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was teaching were true? That's why they were able to
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have the confidence to believe in what it was they were hearing
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and what was being taught. Therefore, many of them believed
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and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well
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as men. So again, a move of God and
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people getting saved, women in the synagogue and influential
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women. We're also coming to faith in
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Jesus Christ. Verse 13, the troublemakers
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again. But when the Jews from
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Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul
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at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowd.
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So there's this group of people. We're going to shut these people
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down. Let's let's inflamed these
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troublemakers and pay them money to cause anarchy in the street
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so that we can dissipate this energy of this movement.
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Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go to the sea.
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So they've learned enough now that every time this crowd
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comes, get out of town and this goes somewhere else.
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And I believe this is one of the ways the Holy Spirit stirred
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Paul's heart continually to go to the regions beyond.
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He never wanted to build upon another man's foundation.
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He never got like, hey, I'm comfortable here.
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He was an apostle, a church planner.
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He wasn't called to be in one place his whole life.
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He was itinerant. He was a tent maker.
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He made his living by making tents.
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And in the interesting, in this particular chapter, you'll find
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when you study Philippians of the Philippian believers
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provided revenue or financial support so that Paul and Silas
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had the ability to really concentrate on the ministry that
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they were doing in these missionary journeys.
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So they send Paul away to go to the sea, but both Silas and
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Timothy remained there. So those who conducted Paul
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brought him to Athens. So now he's going to Athens.
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Exciting place and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to
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come to him with all speed. They departed.
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So Silas and Timothy are hanging out in these places to help
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these new churches develop for a while.
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They'll eventually catch up with Paul, but Paul now is going on
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his own to Athens now. Athens, Greece back then as
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today, is a incredible city. It's a city of influence.
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It's a city of intellectualism. It's a city of philosophy.
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This is a place of Socrates and Plato, these philosophers,
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Aristotle. This is what caused people to
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think about a lot of things in life.
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And whether they were true or false, they were, their minds
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were stimulated by the the brilliant people that lived
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there. It was a city of idolatry.
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To this day, there's the Parthenon and the Acropolis and,
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and all these kind of places that you can go and actually see
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these buildings that have stood the test of time throughout the
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centuries of history of some idol and just every street
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corner but a memorial to some God or goddess who lived at one
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time that the people were influenced to worship Pagan
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idolatry. And so Paul, he's, he's here in
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Athens now. Verse 16.
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Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was
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provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to
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idols. So he's there like a Taurus
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maybe initially, but he knows why he's really there.
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He's fascinated by what he sees, but he's like, I can't believe
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that these people are so deluded into worshipping all these false
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gods. These beautiful buildings
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they've built. They're void of truth.
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They're void of God. There's no evidence of Christ
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anywhere here. He sees and he saw that the city
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was given over to idols. That broke his heart.
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He wasn't judging them. He was like, these people are
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messed up and they need to hear the truth.
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Therefore, verse 17, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews
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and with the Gentile worshippers.
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So again he has this privilege and this opportunity to go into
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the synagogue and get some things going.
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He also has this opportunity to deal with the Gentile
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worshippers. So you had Jews and Gentiles in
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the synagogue and and it says he didn't end there.
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And then the marketplace daily with those who happen to be
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there. That's interesting.
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St. Ministry, how do you do that
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Nowadays? Anytime I see St.
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Ministry, it's never real attractive because it's some
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wacko out there with signs saying God hates fags or he
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hates this and you're all going to hell.
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And it's not like endearing. I go to State College lots of
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times on business, and there's the Willard preacher there who's
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very gracious and how he stands outside the science building and
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tries a dialogue with people about spirituality and that kind
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of stuff to build a bridge to be able to have a conversation with
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someone who's reasoning out of philosophy versus the truth of
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the gospel. But sometimes you'll see people
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out there screaming with a microphone telling all the Penn
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State students that they're on their way to hell.
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You know, that's not the way. I think you start with the
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communication of the gospel. I think you best start with
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God's love, because that's what softens the heart.
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A God who's going to send me to hell.
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I don't want to even know who he is, right?
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Because I don't even think he loves me.
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And when you tell people first about the love of God and what
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he did for them, then all of a sudden the message of the need
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for repentance to be saved from hell begins to sink in and make
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good common sense. So as they're preaching here,
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these other philosophers, verse 18, certain Epicurean and Stoic
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philosophers encountered him. Some said, what does this
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babbler want to say? The Epicureans were developed
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about 300 years before this incident took place.
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They were the people that believed in the good life, the
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best wine, the best food, the best entertainment, the best
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buildings and property, the ability to have, you know, the
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best sensuality or whatever sin they might be able to experience
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in their flesh and their body. It was all reasoned on.
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This is how we're to live and enjoy all this good stuff.
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They didn't want to deal with any negativity, nothing.
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It was painful. Anything that had to do with
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suffering. Their whole focus was your best
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life now, right? You know, someone that proclaims
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that the best life now that's Epicureanism, multimillion
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dollar mansion, expensive jets, the best clothing, one of the
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most influential churches in our country today.
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And it's all rooted in Epicurean spirituality.
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It's it's sad, it's tragic. And then the Stoics or the other
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group where they were like real hard nosed kind of people.
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They believed in this idea that God was in everything and good
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and bad and evil whatever, and different, and they didn't want
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to participate in life like these Epicurean kind of people.
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Both of these philosophies are very warped and distorted, but
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they had their followers at the time, and so they're calling
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Paul a babbler now in that community.
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At the time, this was known to discuss heady spirituality, new,
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new stuff. So when someone came into the
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community, they would go up on Mars Hill and they had the Agora
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marketplace on the bottom. And as you went up, there was
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these rocks these brains would sit on and they would talk until
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midnight, I'm sure about their philosophy of what they think
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truth is. And up on the top was a
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Parthenon. It was very influential in the
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in the wisdom of of Greek mythology, whatever.
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And so they're here to have a conversation with him, with
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Paul. Others said this is about Paul.
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He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods because he preached
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to them Jesus in the resurrection.
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They never heard anything like this before.
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And so they took him in verse 19 and brought him to the Areopagus
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saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you
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speak for you're bringing some strange things to our ears.
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So they're, they're sort of inquisitive here.
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Therefore we want to know what these things mean for all the
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Athenians. Verse 21 And the foreigners who
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were there spent their time and nothing else but either to tell
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or to hear some new things. So this was a cool place to go
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to. You got an idea of philosophy, a
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new religion, a cult, a false teaching.
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They're all weird. They want to hear what you have
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to say. This because it fascinated them.
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So he goes up there and addresses them in verse 22.
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Then Paul stood in the midst of the Aeropagus and said, men of
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Athens, I perceive that on all things you're very religious.
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So he starts with a compliment. He doesn't condemn them about
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their idolatry and put them all down.
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He's saying, like you guys seem to be involved in spiritual
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things, that in all things you're very religious.
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That probably puffed them up a little bit.
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Well, this guy's pretty cool. He thinks highly of us.
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Yeah, we, we got our act together here, for as I was
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passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I
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even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.
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Very intriguing way of dialoguing with people about
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their need of Christ. Try to find common ground with
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someone when you're talking with them to see if there's any
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ground that you can have to have a conversation about the gospel.
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If there's not a foundation of some kind of place of ground
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that you can communicate, you're not going to get too far with
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people. But if you're able to listen and
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thank and ask God for wisdom to, to get into their minds and
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their hearts a little bit, the Lord will show you how.
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And Paul is an ultimate specialist in this kind of
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communication. Of course, he's gifted and he's
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apostle and the Holy Spirit's in him and all through him and on
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upon him. But nonetheless, he says God who
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made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven
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and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands.
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So right away these people have these facilities, these
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structures that, you know, convey spiritual atmosphere.
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You go in and you can say, oh, this is so beautiful.
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The gold, the silver, the the artwork, whatever.
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This is like really special here, very majestical, whatever.
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And maybe that made them feel like there was some sense of a
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God that was in the building. And then Paul gradually begins
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to explain to them that this Lord of heaven, this Creator
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does not dwell in temples made with hands.
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Now, how many people in our culture today think that God's
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only in the in the house? We come here.
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This is where God is. When we leave, he's not here
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anymore. I mean, he's not with us
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anymore. He's at the house, nor is he
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worshiped with man's hands. So they make all this great
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stuff. And I'm not putting down, you
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know, artwork or beautiful structures and that kind of
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stuff. He's educating them here that
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that God doesn't get excited about everything you built or
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made or spent to give people this atmosphere of worship as
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though he needed anything. God doesn't need anything.
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We can be out on the hillside, we can be out in the
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countryside, we can be at the ocean, we can be in the woods,
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whatever. You can worship God really
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anywhere. If you know who God is, you're
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going to be able to worship anywhere.
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The benefit of the church is we get to worship God together,
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which we're called not to forsake the assembling of
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ourselves together as a man or some, but exhort one another so
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much more as we see today approaching.
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So we get together and we encourage each other through the
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Word and worship and praise, but God doesn't need anything.
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We're providing for Him in the sense of our human ability.
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It's all what He's given to us. And so the most you can give God
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in a way that would honor Him is to be thankful and to follow the
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truth of His Word. It says He gives to all life,
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breath and all things. It's like you might want to
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underline that in your Bible. He gives to all life, breath and
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all things and he has made from one blood every nation of men to
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dwell on the face of the earth and is determined to purported
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times and the boundaries of their dwelling.
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So the sovereignty of God, evidence in these scriptures.
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God created us from one blood. We're all descendants of Adam,
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every nation, doesn't matter what color of skin or what
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ethnic background or what culture people have been from.
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We all come from this one God, one blood, every nation of men
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to dwell on all the face of the earth.
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God knows the time that you and I have.
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He knows before we get here and He knows the time and when we're
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going to go. So he says in verse 27, so that
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they should seek the Lord and hope that they might grow for
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him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
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And that's the picture of of someone in darkness.
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It's, it's tragic. Where's the answer to life?
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I'm feeling here, I'm touching this, I'm experiencing that, I'm
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trying this. I still can't find an answer.
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People grope. People groped all day long, all
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night long, bottles of alcohol by the bed.
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They're trying to find an answer to life.
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They're depressed. People take their lives because
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they're groping. They can't find the truth.
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Jesus is the truth, He's the way, He's the life, and the only
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way they're going to know is by you and I and people like Paul
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and Silas and Timothy telling these people the gospel so they
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don't have to grope anymore. They can find the Lord because
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faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
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We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living
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Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through
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the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the
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history of the early church immediately after Jesus
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ascension. It gives us a front row seat to
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how the Gospel began to move outwards, starting in Jerusalem
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and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire.
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In just three decades, a small group of frightened ordinary
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believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement that
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transformed the known world. Acts is not just a history
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lesson. It's a reminder of what God can
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do when His people are surrendered, obedient, and
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filled with the Holy Spirit. Their perseverance still
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inspires us today. May we follow their example and
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live faithfully for Christ in our own time.
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We hope today's message encouraged you.
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Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel,
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Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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area, we'd love to have you join us in person.
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Our Sunday service begins at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Unit 6B. Be sure to visit
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calvarychapelonline.com to confirm times and learn more.
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If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
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on the new 91.7 frequency. Please pray about supporting
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this outreach. Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO,
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Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. Stay connected through Facebook,
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YouTube, or our Calvary Chapel Westmoreland app.
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Join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, and give online
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all at calvarychapelonline.com. Thank you for tuning in and
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spending this time in God's Word.
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Be sure to join us again for Living Waters of Grace.