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Living Waters of Grace 11.14.25 · 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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So that's the message then in the book of the Acts.
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That's the message now today that God is commanding every
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human being on the face of the planet.
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They need to repent, change their mind, and see and believe
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in the truth, because He's appointed today in which He will
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judge the world and righteousness by the man whom
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he's ordained. And of course, that's Jesus
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Christ. When he comes back the second
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time, He's coming back as the judge.
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It feels like whenever we drive, there are warning signs
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everywhere alerting us of icy bridges, tight turns, and
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crossing traffic that doesn't stop.
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It may all seem a bit overwhelming, but Can you
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imagine what it would be like if those warning signs didn't
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exist? Pastor Clark reminds you today
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that God's Word contains a message of hope for humanity,
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but it also contains a warning. The Lord will one day judge all
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of humanity for its sin, and the only way to avoid his wrath is
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to repent and follow Jesus. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
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book of Acts Chapter 17 with today's edition of Living Waters
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of Grace. Silas and Timothy are hanging
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out in these places to help these new churches develop for a
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while. They'll eventually catch up with
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Paul, but Paul now is going on his own to Athens now.
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Athens, Greece back then as today, is a incredible city.
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It's a city of influence. It's a city of intellectualism.
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It's a city of philosophy. This is a place of Socrates and
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Plato, these philosophers, Aristotle.
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This is what caused people to think about a lot of things in
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life 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 almost every street
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corner, but a memorial to some God or goddess who at one time
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that the people were influenced to worship Pagan idolatry.
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And so Paul, he's, he's here in Athens now.
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Verse 16. Now while Paul waited for them
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at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw
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that the city was given over to idols.
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So he's there like a Taurus maybe initially, but he knows
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why he's really there. He's fascinated by what he sees
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because like, I can't believe that these people are so deluded
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into worshipping all these false gods.
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These beautiful buildings they've built, they're void of
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truth. They're void of God.
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There's no evidence of Christ anywhere here.
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He sees and he saw that the city was given over to idols.
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That broke his heart. He wasn't judging them.
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He was like these people are messed up and they need to hear
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the truth. Therefore, verse 17, he reasoned
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in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile
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worshippers. So again he has this privilege
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and this opportunity to go into the synagogue and get some
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things going. He also has this opportunity to
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deal with the Gentile worshippers.
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So you had Jews and Gentiles in the synagogue and and it says he
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didn't end there. And then the marketplace daily
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with those who happen to be there.
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That's interesting. St.
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Ministry, how do you do that Nowadays?
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Anytime I see St. Ministry, it's never real
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attractive because it's some wacko out there with signs
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saying God hates fags or he hates this and you're all going
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to hell. And it's not like endearing.
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I go to State College lots of times on business, and there's
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the Willard preacher there who's very gracious and how he stands
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outside the science building and tries a dialogue with people
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about spirituality and that kind of stuff to build a bridge to be
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able to have a conversation with someone who's reasoning out of
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philosophy versus the truth of the gospel.
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But sometimes you'll see people out there screaming with a
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microphone telling all the Penn State students that they're on
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their way to hell. You know, that's not the way.
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I think you start with the communication of the gospel.
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I think you best start with God's love, because that's what
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softens the heart. A God who's going to send me to
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hell. I don't want to even know who he
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is, right? Because I don't even think he
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loves me. And when you tell people first
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about the love of God and what he did for them, then all of a
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sudden the message of the need for repentance to be saved from
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hell begins to sink in and make good common sense.
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So as they're preaching here, these other philosophers, verse
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18, certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him.
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Some said, what does this babbler want to say?
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The Epicureans were developed about 300 years before this
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incident took place. They were the people that
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believed in the good life, the best wine, the best food, the
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best entertainment, the best buildings and property, the
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ability to have, you know, the best sensuality or whatever sin
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they might be able to experience in their flesh and their body.
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It was all reasoned on. This is how we're to live and
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enjoy all this good stuff. They didn't want to deal with
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any negativity, nothing. It was painful.
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Anything that had to do with suffering.
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Their whole focus was your best life now, right?
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You know someone that proclaims that the best life now that's
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Epicureanism multi $1,000,000 mansion, expensive jets, the
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best clothing, one of the most influential churches in our
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country today. And it's all rooted in Epicurean
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spirituality. It's it's sad, it's tragic.
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And then the Stoics or the other group where they were like real
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hard nosed kind of people. They believed in this idea that
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God was in everything and good and bad and evil whatever, and
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different, and they didn't want to participate in life like
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these Epicurean kind of people. Both of these philosophies are
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very warped and distorted, but they had their followers at the
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time, and so they're calling Paul a babbler now in that
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community. At the time, this was known to
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discuss heady spirituality, new, new stuff.
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So when someone came into the community, they would go up on
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Mars Hill and they had the Agora marketplace on the bottom.
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And as you went up, there was these rocks these brains would
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sit on and they would talk until midnight, I'm sure about their
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philosophy of what they think truth is.
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And up on the top was a Parthenon.
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It was very influential in the in the wisdom of of Greek
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mythology, whatever. And so they're here to have a
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conversation with him, with Paul.
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Others said this is about Paul. He seems to be a proclaimer of
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foreign gods because he preached to them Jesus in the
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resurrection. They never heard anything like
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this before. And so they took him in verse 19
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and brought him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this
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new doctrine is of which you speak for you're bringing some
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strange things to our ears. So they're, they're sort of
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inquisitive here. Therefore we want to know what
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these things mean for all the Athenians.
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Verse 21. And the foreigners who were
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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 or called 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 him.
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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 them on all things.
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You're very religious. So he starts with a compliment.
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He doesn't condemn them about their idolatry and put them all
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down. He's saying, like you guys seem
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to be involved in spiritual things, that in all things
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you're very religious. That probably puffed him up a
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little bit. Well, this guy's pretty cool.
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He thinks highly of us. Yeah, we, we got our act
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together here. For as I was passing through and
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considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar
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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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think 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, it 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 were called not to forsake the assembling of ourselves
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together as a man or some, but exhort one another so much more
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as we see today approaching. So we get together and we
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encourage each other through the Word and worship and praise, but
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God doesn't need anything. We're providing for Him in the
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sense of our human ability. It's all what He's given to us.
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And so the most you can give God in a way that would honor Him is
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to be thankful and to follow the truth of His Word.
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It says He gives to all life, breath and all things.
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It's like you might want to underline that in your Bible.
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He gives to all life, breath and all things and he has made from
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one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth
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and it's determined to appointed times and the boundaries of
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their dwelling. So the sovereignty of God
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evidence in these scriptures. God created us from one blood.
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We're all descendants of Adam, every nation, doesn't matter
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what color of skin or what ethnic background or what
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culture people have been from. We all come from this one God,
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one blood, every nation of men to dwell on all the faces the
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earth. God knows the time that you and
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I have. He knows before we get here and
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He knows the time and when we're going to go.
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So he says in verse 27, so that they should seek the Lord and
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hope that they might grow for him and find him, though he is
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not far from each one of us. And that's the picture of of
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someone in darkness. It's, it's tragic.
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Where's the answer to life? I'm feeling here, I'm touching
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this, I'm experiencing that, I'm trying this.
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I still can't find an answer. People grope.
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People groped all day long, all night long, bottles of alcohol
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by the bed. They're trying to find an answer
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to life. They're depressed.
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People take their lives because they're groping.
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They can't find the truth. Jesus is the truth, He's the
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way, He's a life, and the only way they're going to know is by
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you and I and people like Paul and Silas and Timothy telling
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these people the gospel so they don't have to grope anymore.
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They can find the Lord because faith comes by hearing and
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hearing by the word of God. For in him we live, move, and
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have our being. Boy, that's a beautiful truth
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and insight, as also some of your poets have said.
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So Paul uses poetry and he gives this insight that you can read
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poetry and and the Holy Spirit can use poetry.
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If some of you saw the movie, I heard the bells on Christmas
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Day. Anybody see that movie?
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If you haven't, I challenge you to see.
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It's the history of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the
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premier leaders in the civil rights movement for freedom of
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slavery back in the Civil War days.
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Passionate man for the word of God and the truth of God and the
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gospel of Jesus Christ. And he wrote poetry, went
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through terrible tragedy in his life.
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And I'm not going to give the movie away.
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You can do. I knew nothing about Longfellow
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other than the name I heard in school one time.
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No one ever told me how this guy was and how he lived his life.
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Remarkable, remarkable man. But anyway, that's from a poet.
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In him we live, move and have our being, for we also are his
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offspring. So he's telling this whole crowd
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of people here that we're all the offspring of this creator
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God. He's using natural revelation to
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the pagans. When Paul spoke to the Jews, he
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used the Old Testament. When he speaks to the pagans,
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he's using natural revelation of the the creation.
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And the creation causes our conscience.
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And though the Bible tells us in the book of Romans that there is
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a God that we're accountable to, therefore, since we are the
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offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature
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is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and
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man's devising. In other words, all this stuff
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you guys have developed, this isn't the divine nature of God.
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Truly, verse 30, these times of ignorance God overlooked.
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There was a time when God understood obviously the way
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we're wired, lost and without him, without hope in the world,
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He gave the human race a break for a period of time.
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Not that He justified what it was they were doing, but He knew
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they needed to have transformation and illumination
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that can only come from the Scriptures and the truth of the
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Word through the apostles and prophets.
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Truly, these signs of ignorance got overlooked, but now commands
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all men everywhere to repent. So that's the message then in
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the book of the Acts. That's the message now today
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that God is commanding every human being on the face of the
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planet. They need to repent, change
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their mind, and see and believe in the truth, because He's
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appointed today in which he will judge the world and
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righteousness by the man whom he's ordained.
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And of course, that's Jesus Christ.
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When he comes back the second time, he's coming back as the
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judge. He has given assurance of this
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to all by raising him from the dead.
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So again, he's preaching the gospel, the death, the burial,
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the resurrection of Jesus Christ, verse 32.
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And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
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mocked while others said, we will hear you again on this
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matter. So Paul departed from them.
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So no matter where you are, who you are, even if you're an
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apostle, some will laugh at you and scoff at you and mock you.
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Some will believe and some will say, well, let me think about it
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and I might consider this later. And that's what happened here.
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So my challenge and yours and application of today's teaching
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is what are we doing with our lives right now as Christians?
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Are we participants in the building of the Kingdom through
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the preaching of the gospel? And that preaching of the gospel
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is just not Sundays in church, right?
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It's it's an everyday life, the opportunity to find these people
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who are groping out there trying to find an answer and they've
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never heard the answer, the ultimate answer that we know
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that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
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No man comes to the father, but through him.
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The good news here after Paul leaves them, it says some men
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join him and believed among them diagnosis the Areopagite and a
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woman named Damaris and others with them.
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So this the the wonder of this guy, his simple heart and loving
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God and doing what Jesus said go into all the world, preach the
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gospel to every living creature. That is the foundation and the
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ultimate command that Jesus left with His church, His disciples,
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His apostles, before He ascended into heaven, right?
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How are we doing with sharing the gospel?
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Personally? How are we doing with sharing
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the gospel as a church? We have a radio station and
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thank God it's out there and people are listening and
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believing and some of you have found the church because of
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that. But that's on the air.
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You got to find 100.3 FM. They actually hear anything,
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right? You and I are a 24/7 living
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broadcast person or people to be able to communicate to people in
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live time, wherever we are, the good news of the gospel.
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I think of Longfellow when I watched that movie and I said to
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my wife last night, I said I want to live for something
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that's bigger than myself. I get caught up in my life like
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you do too. And making a living or doing
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whatever we got to do every day and thank God for our careers
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and our, you know, the things God allows us to accumulate
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whatever. But at the end of the day, I
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want my life, and I know you do too, to, to account for
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something that's way beyond this natural realm.
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And so my prayer for me as well as you today.
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And that we have more love in our hearts, more care, and more
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concern for people who need a Savior.
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Inviting people to church, inviting people to listen to
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YouTube, giving people a Bible. We got Bibles out there to give
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to people to read and and define that that God is the promise
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keeper and the people would come to faith in Jesus Christ.
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Lord, you did this for me. You shed your blood, You gave
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yourself on the cross for my sins.
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What is it you want of me? He wants more of us.
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He wants more of our hearts or our lives.
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And He doesn't demand. He woos us to Himself.
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He causes the Word of God to soften our hearts and to cause
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us to know we need more of Jesus every day.
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We need to be sensitive to His Spirit and how He wants to use
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us in our lives, in our homes and our marriages and our kids,
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our families, neighborhood, community, church, world,
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remembering what He did for us. And then we leave here,
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hopefully with a sense of deeper understanding of what it means
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to be a witness of Jesus Christ. How can we be a more influential
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witness? And that's the work of the Holy
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Spirit in each of our lives. That's not something you or I
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figure out. Well, I'm going to do better at
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this or try harder at this. No, it's like, Holy Spirit, you
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live in me. Take my personality, my gifts,
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my abilities, my talents, my resources, and use them for what
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will count for eternity, right? Only one life will soon be
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passed. Only what's done for Christ will
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last. Father God, we come and we are
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humbled, Lord, by your word today.
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Lord, we're thrilled when we see this testimony and this history
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of these two guys, this going out and sharing the gospel and
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what you do as a result of the gospel being shared.
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You save souls, Lord, who've chosen the the preaching of the
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gospel is the power of God and to salvation to all those who
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believe to the Jew 1st and also to the Greek Father, I pray you
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would make us a a witnessing church, a witnessing people that
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Lord as we do our lives, Lord, that we look for opportunities
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as Paul did and he walked around the streets of Athens who who
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might be groping who might be desperate for a Savior.
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Lord, we surrender our lives to you again today afresh soften
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us, Lord, cause us to be enthralled with your love and
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your grace and your majesty. Make us gracious people, Lord,
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make us loving people. Make us caring and compassionate
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people for those who are without you.
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Lord, bless my brothers and sisters as we're on this journey
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together, Lord, learning more about you, learning how to to
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serve you, Lord. And we pray, Father, that all
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that we do and all that we say would all give honor and glory
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to You. Thank you for listening to this
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edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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Pastor Clark is teaching us about the book of Acts in this
24:04
series. Acts is a powerful and unique
24:07
part of Scripture, not just because it records the spread of
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the gospel geographically from Jerusalem to the ends of the
24:13
earth, but also culturally. Acts shows us how the message of
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Jesus moved beyond its Jewish roots and began to reach the
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Gentile world. What started with Peter leading
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a small group in the Upper Room became a global movement with
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Paul taking the gospel to cities, synagogues and
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marketplaces across the Roman Empire.
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Acts captures this vital transition and reminds us that
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the good news of Jesus is for all people in every place.
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May we be inspired to carry that same gospel boldly into our
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world today. Living Waters of Grace comes to
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you from Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland.
24:54
If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, you can listen to Grace FM
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on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping support the
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new station that will reach thousands more listeners.
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Send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601 also
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invite you to join us in person this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
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Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
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To stay up to date, visit calvarychapelonline.com where
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