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Living Waters of Grace 11.05.25 · 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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Jesus said I am the way, I am the truth.
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I'm the life. No man cometh to the Father but
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through me. It's not through any church
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system, it's not through any Sacramento rights, it's not
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through any kind of works of righteousness, which we have
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done, but it's according to His mercy.
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He has saved us and these are serious issues.
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We might take it for granted because we are in a Bible church
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and there's many churches still like this out there.
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Thank God for that. We usually find ourselves
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crafting our own set of rules. Some might believe that just
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showing up at church or racking up good deeds is the ticket to
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heaven. But spiritual maturity is all
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about realizing that the key to eternal life begins with
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receiving Jesus into your heart. Today, Pastor Clark shares
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insights on how Jesus is the only way to heaven.
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He hung on that cross bearing the weight of your sins.
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Without him, there's no chance for your sins to be wiped clean
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and heaven will be out of reach. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts
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chapter 15 as he continues his message, the gospel of grace.
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So there's this problem in the church.
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Some people are saying, well, what do we do?
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What's the truth? There's a problem here.
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So Peter and Barnabas are getting them calmed down,
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reinforcing the truth of the gospel, and they're going to go
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up to Jerusalem and present this issue, this problem that's
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arisen in the New Testament church at the time of this idea
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of circumcision being part of what saves someone from their
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sin. Now at this time, there was this
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growth of the New Testament church.
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Church is being planted everywhere.
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Headquarters was sort of Jerusalem, but there really was
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never any headquarters in the church on earth.
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The headquarters of the church is in heaven, and that's God the
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Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
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They are the ones that lead and run the church.
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We don't need a hierarchy to keep things under control.
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We don't need a a place in Rome to tell us what's right or
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what's wrong. We don't need a place in Costa
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Mesa where Calvary Chapel started that tells us what's
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right or wrong. We know this word tells us
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what's right and wrong right. And so we are accountable to
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what the Bible teaches. And soon as something is being
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taught contrary to the Bible, then it all goes S very, very
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quickly. James was the half brother of
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Jesus and he was sort of the main guy in the church in
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Jerusalem, the first among equals if you may.
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And so he would sort of preside over this council that they were
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going to have regarding this issue of circumcision.
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This is a big deal because it's going to wreck the church if it
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isn't straightened out. Just like if a heresy came in
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here and someone started teaching something that wasn't
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biblical, it would wreck the church and scatter the sheep.
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So being sent on their way by the church, they were sent up by
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this church in Antioch. They passed through Phoenicia
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and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles and
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how they caused great joy to all the brethren.
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So it was so wonderful how all these people were getting saved
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miraculously in these church plants that the Paul and
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Barnabas were establishing. It was like a revival.
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It was just amazing how this, the preaching of the simple
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gospel, was convicting people and bringing them to faith in
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Jesus Christ. There was no rituals, there was
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no ceremonies. There was no hierarchy of people
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telling them, yeah, you put your faith in Christ, but then you
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got to do these three things or four things in order to make
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sure you're really saved. That wasn't happening.
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Verse 4. And when they had come to
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Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and
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the elders, and they reported all the things that God had done
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with them. But some of the sect of the
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Pharisees, and this is the false cult of the Pharisees, the
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Judaizers who believe rose up saying it is necessary to
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circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
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Paul tells us in Galatians and in this book of Galatians was
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written to communicate these issues and problems that we're
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continuing in the early stages of the church.
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And he's very emphatic and what he says here in Galatians
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chapter one, verse 6 through 9, this ties right into this.
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Paul says, I marvel that you were turning away so soon from
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him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel,
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which is not another. But there are some who trouble
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you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we are an Angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
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to you than what we have preached you.
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Let him be accursed, as we have said before.
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So now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you
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than what you have received, let him be accursed.
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That's pretty deep and pretty powerful, what he said there.
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And so I run into people, you run into people.
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Unfortunately, the body of Christ on the earth is so
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fragmented between so many different denominations and so
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many different opinions and so many different liturgies and
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rituals and ways of doing things and way of not doing things.
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But anytime a ritual supersedes the gospel, it's a heresy.
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Nothing wrong with the ritual. Some people use candles and
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incense. Some people use drums and
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guitars to worship God. There's nothing inherently wrong
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in any of that. But if we lift any of the ritual
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above the truth of the Word of God, we've become false
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teachers. So you have different groups
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that say you cannot be saved unless you confess your sins to
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a priest maybe? Or you can't be saved unless you
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speak in tongues. Or you can't be saved unless
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you've received the second blessing and called the holiness
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doctrine. And these people teach that you
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have this experience, you'll never sin again.
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I mean, it's craziness, you know.
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And so you have all these people with these different agendas
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and, and different ways of adding things to what the
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Scriptures say. And so as a result, the
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simplicity of the gospel is corrupted by the gospel being
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Jesus plus something else. And the gospel is that Christ
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died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was
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buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
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Scriptures. Jesus said I am the way, I am
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the truth, I'm the life. No man cometh to the Father but
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through me. It's not through any church
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system, it's not through any Sacramento rights, it's not
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through any kind of works of righteousness, which we have
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done, but it's according to His mercy.
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He has saved us. And these are serious issues.
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We might take it for granted because we are in a Bible church
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and there's many churches still like this out there.
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Thank God for that. Bible churches that teach the
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Bible, not man's ideas of what the Bible says, are teaching
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things that aren't in the Bible. I'm amazed at how many people
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look at tradition, and I don't care what the tradition could
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be. It could be the tradition of
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Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy or Reformation theology.
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As soon as you make something more superior, a system to the
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truth of the simplicity of the gospel, which Paul was worried
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about, the thing that bothered in the most is that our minds
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would be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ
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Jesus. It is enough that Jesus died and
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that he died for me. That's enough.
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But all these other things, they make people religious, they make
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them proud, they make them self-righteous.
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So this brother said to me, you know, how could they tell me,
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you know, what's the basis of me losing my salvation?
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What sin is it that I could lose my salvation?
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David committed the worst of sins, adultery and murder, and
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yet because he was a man after God's own heart, the Spirit
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convicted him, and he repented of his sin, and God still
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declared him even after his sin, that he was a man after God's
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own heart. Aren't you glad?
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Psalm 50 ones in the Bible, restore unto me the joy of my
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salvation. Create in me a clean heart, O
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God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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A broken and a contrite heart God will not despise.
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There's no sin once you've become a believer in Jesus
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Christ that would prevent you from entering into the Kingdom
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of heaven. Now I don't recommend you sin
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because you have this security in Christ.
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If you love Christ, you don't want a sin.
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If you love Christ, you'll send less.
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If someone says they're a believer and they decide they no
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longer want to follow Christ, you pray for them and pray that
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the Holy Spirit will convict them.
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God inscribes us in the palm of our hands.
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He promises He will never leave us or forsake us.
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He doesn't make us a son or a daughter and then disown us.
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So these teachings are really very, very dangerous out there.
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You cannot lose your salvation. If you could lose it, you never
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had it. And so this is a big issue at
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this time. And this sect is evil and
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they're trying to cause problems.
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In verse 6 now the apostles and elders came together to consider
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this matter and when they had had been much dispute, Peter
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rose up and said to them, and it must have been a chaotic
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environment. The Judaizers yelling, the true
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believers arguing it wasn't probably a real calm room and
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meeting. I mean people really pretty
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uptight about this because they were both passionate on both
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sides. Peter rose up and said to them,
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of course we know Peter was a Jew.
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He had that vision of on the rooftop of don't call something,
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it's clean, unclean. I mean, he had this revelation
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all the sudden that there is no difference between Jew and
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Gentile. There is no preference from God
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between those who are kosher and those who aren't.
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Thank the Lord for that vision. Men and brethren, you know that
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a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentile
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should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
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So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them
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the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction
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between us and them. In other words, again, there is
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no distinction between the Jew and the Gentile purifying their
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hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test
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God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which
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neither our fathers nor we were able to bear, but we believe
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that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
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saved in the same manner as they.
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Then all the multitude kept silent, and listened to Barnabas
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and Paul, declaring how many miracles and wonders God had
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worked through them among the Gentiles, and after they had
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become silent, James. And of course this is the half
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brother of Jesus, the one who wrote the book of James as well
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answered, saying, Men and brethren, listen to me.
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Simon had declared how God at first visited the Gentiles to
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take out of them a people for his name.
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And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is
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written. And this is from the book of
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Amos. After this I will return and
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will rebuild the Tabernacle of David, which has fallen down.
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I will rebuild its ruins. I will set it up so that the
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rest of mankind may seek the Lord.
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Even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the
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Lord, who does all these things known to God from eternity are
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all his works. Therefore, I judge that we
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should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are
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turning to God, but that we write to them, they're going to
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give them direction. Now, these are the things that
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are important to to understand once you're born again and
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you're saved and you got this group of Jews and Gentiles
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learning how to worship together, realizing that to
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Jewish people growing up in Judaism, being kosher was
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important. Being gentile.
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We'd eat pigs, we'd eat whatever, you know, we didn't
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care about that didn't make us any better or less holy or
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didn't make them any more holy. But it was a tradition of their
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upbringing. And so the wisdom of the
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apostles and James and all those who got together was they gave
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them some direction here. Abstain from things polluted by
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idols. In other words, don't
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necessarily intentionally eat in the presence of your Jewish
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brothers and sisters who are in Christ things of food that would
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have been offered the idols. And Paul gets into that later in
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the book of Corinthians. We'll get to that again.
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It's a sensitivity of conscience that you don't want to stumble
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people unnecessarily about what you do or what you like Or
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they're called mores. What is right and wrong for the
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child of God according to the word of God?
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Some of you in here probably don't go to movies anymore.
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You probably haven't stepped your feet into a theater in
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probably years. And that's a big issue for you
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because of how you perceive, you know, Hollywood and graphic
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violence or immorality that's depicted in most movies.
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But everybody has a conscience. Some people can watch a movie,
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and it's not that they condone those kind of things, but
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they're looking at the storyline and, you know, they're focusing
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on, you know, the good parts of the movie, whatever.
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So but someone maybe would see you going to a movie theater and
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say, well, you can't be a Christian if you're going to
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movies. Some people act that way or
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playing cards. What are you doing tonight?
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I'm I'm going to play 5 stud poker, 5 card poker with my my
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neighbor. What don't you know that's
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gambling or you know you you shouldn't be playing.
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We were in Bible cards. They taught us we could play
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cards, but we only could play Rook or Melbourne.
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We couldn't play face cards because face cards were sinful
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crazy. We were told that we couldn't
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listen to any music other than Christian hymn music.
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You couldn't listen to country, you couldn't listen to rock, you
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couldn't listen to jazz, you couldn't listen to classical.
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I mean, it's crazy Legalism, and legalism is a horrible thing to
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be under bondage to now. When I was in Bible college, I
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liked rock. I still like some of it now, but
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in order to listen to it without stumbling someone, I hadn't
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remember those old stereo headphones you put on.
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You put this big plug in, you know you.
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So I was listening to bread, you know, that was far from rock.
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It don't matter to me. Remember that this calm music,
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but the Bible call you just thought that was evil music.
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I could see Metallica or maybe some of that stuff would be out
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there. But, you know, there's nothing
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wrong with bread, you know, or America or some of these
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different calm bands. But anyway, if you were caught
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listening to that kind of music, people would question your
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salvation. Or you're in a restaurant and
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you're looking around. Well, I don't see anybody here
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that knows me. I guess I could have a, a Miller
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Lite or I could have a Cabernet or I could have a Merlot.
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And, you know, I'm just going to have one And, and that should be
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OK. But someone comes in all of a
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sudden. Did you see such and such?
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They had a beer on their table. I mean, come on.
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You know, the Bible teaches moderation, but it doesn't teach
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abstinence. So all these things are all part
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of this thing of adding something to what it is that
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makes us acceptable to God. At the end of the day, I don't
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care how perfect a life you live and how holy you think you are,
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if God still shows you what's in you, you would scream.
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We are depraved people, as soon as we don't understand it, we
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still have a sinful nature and we are totally unholy compared
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to the holiness of God. No matter how good we work and
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how hard we try, at the end of the day, we are still falling
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creatures. Amen.
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And I mean defend you if you think you're perfect in here
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today. And I have to tell you, you're
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seriously disillusioned, you know?
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So what makes you acceptable to God is Jesus Christ.
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He's your holiness. He's your righteousness.
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He's your redemption. It's because we are in Christ
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that we've been made acceptable to God.
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But we forget, well, I'm going to really try to be a good
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Christian and we should want to be faithful to God and not
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dishonor him. But if at the end of the day,
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you think of all the stuff you've done and you lay your
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head down the pillow, well, God, I did a pretty good job today.
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I didn't swear, I didn't lust, I didn't think this, I didn't
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judge, you know, and, and, and the Lord's just up there
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smiling. Well, let's see how tomorrow
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goes, because eventually you're going to break.
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You're just human. You're going to break.
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So churches that teach these kind of things, and in this
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instance we got this issue of circumcision, but it's anything
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that tries to make you feel righteous by something you've
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done versus what he's done. Ephesians 289 says for by grace
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you've been saved through faith. And this is not yourselves.
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It's a gift of God, not a works. So no one compose, no one
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compose, and then he says, for we are his workmanship created
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in Christ Jesus unto good works which got us before ordained
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that we should walk in it. So the Holy Spirit's job is to
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transform us and to make us more into the likeness of Jesus
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Christ. And he does that through the
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teaching of the Word. Our minds are renewed.
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We begin to think more like God thinks.
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You got a new believer that doesn't know much about the word
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yet. They're going to make a lot of
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mistakes and do a lot of stupid things, just like we did in our
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early stages of our development in Christ.
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You got to be patient. They're going judging them and
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condemning them and giving them a list of do's and don'ts.
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The Holy Spirit will be faithful to convict them.
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And they might come up and say, you know, I'm really having a
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problem with this area in my life.
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And you can say, yeah, I used to too.
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And this is what I discovered is the Lord worked in my life and
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set me free from this besetting sin and gave me grace to become.
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A little bit more like Jesus every day.
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And, you know, I don't even think about that.
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I don't even want that anymore. I don't like it anymore.
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And so, you know, the apostles here are telling the people,
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this is the ruling here. Don't eat foods offered to
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idols. Abstain from sexual immorality
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and from things strangled and from blood.
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So the Jewish people would not eat anything that had any kind
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of trace of blood in because it would be seen as unclean.
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And so they had agape lunches. I like medium rare steak.
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You guys, every meter. You don't want to sit down with
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a kosher Jew and have a dinner and they're eating, I don't
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know, whatever they're eating a kosher and your steaks bleeding
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all over the plate. There's nothing wrong with them
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or medium rare meat, but that stumbles.
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So they would have these meals and they would try to like, OK,
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how can we have some degree of compromise on mores?
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What's right and wrong for the child of God according to the
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word of God? So the Jews, you know, they were
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brought up kosher. Like, I have this one account in
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Pittsburgh. He's a great guy.
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And I said, hey, you know, we want to try to get more business
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and we'll take you to the Capital Grill.
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He says, Clark, I can't go there.
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I'm not kosher. I said, OK, well, then you tell
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us where you want to go, and then we'll go where you want to
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go. So you want to be sensitive, You
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don't want to be judging, OK, that kind of stuff.
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So anyway, it says for Moses has throughout many generations,
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those who preach him in every city being read in the synagogue
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every Sabbath. So the the wisdom of these
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leaders at the time came down to the path that there needed to be
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this understanding that there was no need for circumcision to
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be saved. That's clarified.
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Then it please the apostles and elders with the whole church to
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send chosen men of their own company, Verse 22, to Antioch
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with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who also named Barsabbas
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and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
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They wrote letter by them, the apostles, the elders and the
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brethren. This letter went out to the
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brethren who are the Gentiles and Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.
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Greetings. Since we have heard that some
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who went out from us have troubled you with words
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unsettling your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep
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the law, to whom we gave no such commandment.
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It seemed good to us, being assembled with 1 accord, to send
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chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men
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who have risked their lives through the name of our Lord
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Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and
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Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth.
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For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you
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no greater burden than these necessary things, that you
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abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things
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strangled, and from sexual immorality.
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If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
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Farewell. Nothing added, nothing
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subtracted from the simplicity of the centrality of Christ and
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the gospel. So when they were sent off, they
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came to Antioch, and when they had gathered the multitude
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together, they delivered the letter, and when they had read
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it, they rejoiced over its encouragement.
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What a relief it had to be for these people now to not be
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worried about needing to get circumcised now.
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Judas and Silas themselves being prophets also exhorted and
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strengthened the brethren with many words, and after they had
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stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings
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from the brethren to the apostles.
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However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.
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Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch teaching and
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preaching the word of the Lord with many others also.
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Thanks for joining us on today's edition of Living Waters of
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Grace, a ministry of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland.
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Today, Pastor Clark is teaching about the book of Acts.
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And as we learn more about Acts, it becomes clear that the early
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church didn't miss a single opportunity to share the gospel.
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In nearly every chapter, you see apostles like Peter and Paul
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stepping into conversations, crowds, and crises with
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boldness, ready to proclaim the name of Jesus.
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Their example challenges us to consider how we might step into
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gospel moments in our own lives. What doors might God open this
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week for you to speak truth, offer hope, or live out your
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faith in a way that points others to Him?
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The story of Acts reminds us we are part of the same mission.
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Today, let's live with eyes open and hearts ready to respond.
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We hope you are challenged by today's message.
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If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we'd love to see you in
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person this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Unit 6B. For more information, visit
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calvarychapelonline.com. You could also join our e-mail
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list, give online, or submit a prayer request right from the
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site. If you can't make it in person,
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be sure to tune in on the Calvary Chapel Westmoreland
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YouTube channel. Subscribe so you never miss new
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teachings. If you're in the Greensburg
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area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency.
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Pray about helping financially support the new station that
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will reach thousands more listeners.
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Send financial gifts to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA
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15601. Once again, we're so grateful
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you joined us today to be inspired by God's Word.
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Please tune in again for more Living Waters of Grace.