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Living Waters of Grace 10.30.25 · 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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  Who am I not to forgive other people of their sins?
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  It goes hand in hand. We're to be reconciled to God,
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  but to be reconciled to one another.
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  And for the life of me, I don't understand how we as human
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  beings, probably because we're just still sinners and we were
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  screwed up at times and fallen or whatever, messed up in our
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  heads that someone does something to you that hurts you
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  or wounds you or upsets you or betrays you.
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  And then you want to cop an attitude.
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  You want to get bitter and you want to get angry.
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  And I'm not going to forgive them because they don't forgive
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  me. When someone causes you pain,
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  whether it's physical or emotional, it's pretty common to
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  feel that urge to retaliate. Having to forgive someone isn't
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  quite as simple as it seems, but have you ever thought about how
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  your Creator chose to forgive you by allowing His only Son to
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  suffer on your behalf? Today, Pastor Clark invites you
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  to open your heart to the power of forgiveness.
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  God decided to reach out and mend things with you because of
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  his deep love for you. Can you do the same with others
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  now? Here's Pastor Clark in the book
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  of Acts Chapter 13 with today's edition of Living Waters of
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  Grace. The focus of these things that
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  we're looking at here are emphasizing what God's done, the
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  focus on what God does. 11 times that God chose the fathers, He
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  made the people great. He led them out of Egypt.
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  He put up with them in the wilderness.
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  He destined 7 nations in the land to have their own space in
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  Canaan. He gave them land as an
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  inheritance. God gave them judges, he gave
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  them Saul, he raised up David. God brought Israel a savior
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  Jesus as he promised, and a prophet John who said he wasn't
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  worthy. This remarkable.
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  And so we continue in verse 26, men and brethren, this is Paul
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  again preaching sons of the family of Abraham.
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  They were proud that they were descendants of Abraham.
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  And you remember what Paul said, that God could raise up the
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  stones to give praise to God. There was nothing special in the
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  sense or entitlement of being a child of Abraham.
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  It didn't automatically guarantee you salvation unless
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  you believed so. There was really no distinction
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  between a Jewish person and a Gentile person in God's eyes.
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  He came first to his own. The Bible says his own received
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  him not, but his picture in his vision of humanity was to be a
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  savior for the whole world and all people, men and brother and
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  sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear
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  God, this is the Gentiles to you.
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  The word of this salvation has been sent for those who dwell in
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  Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him,
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  nor even the voices of the prophets which are read every
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  Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.
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  And through and though they found no cause for death in Him,
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  they asked Pilate that he should be put to death.
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  Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him,
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  they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
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  But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen by many as
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  he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from
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  Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.
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  So the ignorance of the nation of Israel, they're studying the
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  law and the prophets every Saturday.
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  Why was it that they couldn't understand or know him?
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  That's the mystery. God bless you.
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  That's the mystery. You can be here today hearing
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  the Word and maybe half hearing it, or your mind's wandering, or
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  maybe you're here and I don't have a clue what this guy's
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  talking about. That was them.
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  And there are people like that every Sunday in churches all
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  around the world that can be in a building and hearing the
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  truth, but they're really not hearing it unless God gives us
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  ears to hear and eyes to see, right?
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  That's the mystery. It only can happen through the
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  work of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus came, I think one
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  of the issues that Israel had was they were anticipating this
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  world king and all this majesty and all this.
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  He came as a humble servant. Matter of fact, it tells us in
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  Philippians 2, He made himself of no reputation.
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  He didn't have horns and trumpets blowing about His
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  greatness and His deity and that He's truly God Incarnate in the
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  flesh, the one that they were to receive and believe on.
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  He came humble and just did His ministry, and many did follow
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  and believe and become saved, but the majority of people
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  didn't. And to this day the Bible says
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  that the road that leads the life is narrow and few there
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  aren't find it. But the road that leads the
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  destruction is broad and many are on that path.
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  And so they were so compelled against His message that they
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  felt it was their responsibility to have him crucified.
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  And so they asked Pilate in verse 28 that he should be put
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  to death. Now, when you think about these
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  things, this religious tradition that these people were so
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  enamored by and so into, they, they thought they were
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  righteous. The religious people thought
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  they were right, righteous. I mean, there's churches today,
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  guys, and some of you have come from them guys and gals that
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  you, you know, you look back, you say, I never heard anything
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  like this. I heard try to be good, do
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  better, you know, every week and a guilt trip, you know, and I'd
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  come and I know like I'm failing and this just isn't working.
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  And that's what stopped me from going to church as a young man.
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  I just this is just impossible. This does not make sense.
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  Who can live this way because I was compelled to live away
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  opposite of what the Bible teaches because of my sin.
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  It tells us a little bit about our condition as Paul's
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  preaching this gospel. Keep in mind that the book of
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  Romans wasn't written yet, but it would be written based upon
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  these texts in this context of what he's preaching about in the
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  book of the Acts in Romans chapter 3.
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  Many of you familiar with this, but I want to read it for those
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  of you who may not be familiar with it, It tells us in verse
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  21. But now the righteousness of God
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  apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and
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  the prophets, even the righteousness of God through
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  faith in Jesus Christ to all and all who will believe.
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  So that's taken basically right from what he's preaching in Acts
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  right now, that no one, including Jewish people, can be
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  justified by following the 10 commandments.
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  It's not that we disrespect the 10 commandments or don't think
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  they're valid. They're there's consequences of
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  breaking the law and we all know what it is.
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  But every one of us have broken the law, right?
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  Every one of us. And, and Paul's clarifying to
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  them as people who were conditioned to think they had to
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  be perfect, that they cannot be justified by the law.
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  And he said it's through faith in Jesus Christ that we are
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  justified to all and all who believe, for there is no
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  difference for all of sin and fallen short of the glory of
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  God. So everybody, you know,
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  including yourself, have fallen short of God's glory.
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  We have not met his perfect standard, which is perfection.
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  So the whole world is guilty before God.
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  And then he says we're the good news in the next section.
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  We're being justified freely by his grace through the
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  redemption. It is in Christ Jesus.
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  So there's no payment. There's no work that you and I
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  have to do. There's nothing we could do good
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  enough to to save ourselves. This is completely a gift of God
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  for each of us who would receive it.
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  Now we get it because we've received it.
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  Maybe you're here today and you've never received it.
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  So the good news is you can receive this gift of being saved
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  by his grace from your sin. Meaning there's no need for
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  guilt or regret or feeling condemned or unworthy.
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  But God accepts you as you are, a Sinner, which we all are, but
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  a Sinner who needs either to be saved by grace or judged one day
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  because they refused to come to Christ.
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  And so it says that God set forth as a propitiation, A
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  sacrifice by his blood through faith to demonstrate His
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  righteousness. Because of his forbearance, God
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  has passed over the sins that were previously committed to
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  demonstrate at the present time as righteousness that He might
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  be just and a justifier, the one who has faith in Jesus Christ.
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  So the law is God's righteous standard, and the law demands
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  100% adherence and obedience, which is impossible for any of
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  us to do, to be accepted by God based upon our own
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  righteousness. And so Paul's message was a new
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  message to all these people. They had never heard this in the
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  synagogue ever. And maybe some of you have never
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  heard this either. I don't know, but today this is
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  not being proclaimed in most places that call themselves
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  churches. Someone told me a little earlier
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  today, it's better to be in a church that feeds you than makes
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  you feel good. But the good news is another
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  person said, well, can we have both?
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  Yeah, we can. If we hear the word and we do it
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  and we listen and we follow on, we believe, you know, God bless
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  us, doesn't he? But the good news is that God
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  accepts us in because of Jesus. He changes our lives and we also
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  see others this way. If God has been so good to me to
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  reconcile me to himself and forgive me all my sins, who am I
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  not to forgive other people of their sins?
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  It goes hand in hand. We're to be reconciled to God,
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  but to be reconciled to one another.
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  And for the life of me, I don't understand how we as human
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  beings, probably because we're just still sinners and we were
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  screwed up at times and fallen or whatever, messed up in our
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  heads that someone does something to you that hurts you
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  or wounds you or upsets you or betrays you.
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  And then you want to cop an attitude.
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  You want to get bitter and you want to get angry.
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  And I'm not going to forgive them because they don't forgive
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  me. And so we basically, you know,
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  invalidate not from our salvation point of view, but
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  from our relation point of view, the power of the gospel that can
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  make us in love with one another and in love with God no matter
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  what. Forgiving 70 * 7 getting over
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  stuff that bothers us and not letting it like mess with our,
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  our calm, the peace of God. And so Jesus said, by this way
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  of living, this love, this way of living, people will know
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  you're my disciples, right? The only way they're going to
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  know we belong to the Lord isn't by all the stuff we say.
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  But how do we love each other? That's the most important thing,
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  isn't it? How do we love each other?
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  How do we forgive each other? And so this beauty of this
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  truth, I think in Ephesians 432 it says be kind, tender hearted,
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  forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, I've
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  forgiven you. So when I think about all that
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  the Lord has done to forgive me, who am I to not forgive other
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  people? This word justified means to
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  have our sins forgiven in such a way.
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  That's God's honor and His Holiness and integrity are
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  presented and preserved by it. God doesn't ignore our sins.
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  He didn't say, oh, I forgive you, no big deal, don't worry
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  about it. But he does in a way when he
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  puts our sin on Jesus Christ, he says, Clark, don't worry about
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  what you've done in the sins you've committed, because I've
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  forgiven you through the perfection of the one who lived
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  the law 100%, who shed his blood and died for you.
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  And my wrath and my anger that really should be poured out upon
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  you was placed on my son Jesus Christ.
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  Isn't that awesome? He accepts us and forgives us
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  because of what Jesus has done for us.
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  God's justice is an attribute. He's a holy God.
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  He says without holiness, no man will see the Lord.
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  It's not your holiness that presents you acceptable to God.
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  It tells us in Ephesians that we're accepted in the beloved
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  holy and without blame. You and I are accepted in the
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  person of Jesus Christ being holy and without blame.
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  We'll never be accepted in ourselves as being holy and
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  without blame. It's in him.
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  It's completely in Him. And so God found a way to lay
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  the guilt and sins of our lives upon Jesus.
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  Sin must be judged. Sin must be atoned for.
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  There's a reparation for an offence.
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  The satisfaction of God's perfect justice is the fact that
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  there's no compromise for sin that had to be paid for and God
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  only could do it through Christ. God forgave you and me through
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  the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
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  That's why Jesus said, and we're called bigots and close minded
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  people because we believe this because there is no other way.
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  Jesus said I am the way, I am the truth.
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  I am the life. No man comes to the Father but
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  through me. The only way you can be forgiven
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  and be acceptable to your creator God is through what I've
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  done for you. That's what he's saying and
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  everybody says, well why can't there be another way there?
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  There can't be anybody else but Jesus that can die for you and
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  forgive you because He's God Incarnate.
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  He's gone in the flesh, He's perfect, He's the perfect
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  sacrifice. Buddha, Krishna, all these other
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  people, they might have been nice people, but they can't
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  atone for your sin because they're sinful people.
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  And so in Acts 412, if you skip over in your Bible to the left,
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  Acts 412, this clarifies it. It says the stone in verse 11,
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  which was rejected by you builders.
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  He's talking about Israel and the nation of Israel, which has
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  become the chief cornerstone, Jesus as the chief cornerstone.
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  They rejected him trying to build a ministry and a synagogue
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  and whatever without the core person, Jesus Christ.
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  And then it says, nor is there salvation in any other.
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  For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which
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  we must be saved. Amen.
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  There is no other name. That's why we're called to
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  proclaim Christ. That's where we're what we're
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  called to teach the Word of God, the whole council, the word of
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  God, not part of it, but every verse of it so that people can
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  hear. And the picture of justification
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  is full acceptance. God fully accepts you as you are
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  because you're in Christ. And so today you and I have a
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  choice. We can accept the death of the
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  Lord Jesus on our behalf and his life that he gives to us, and we
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  can be free from all the things that we've done and messed up
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  with, which are ton. I know mine have been a ton from
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  I, I can be freed. You can be freed from all these
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  things. God's love is poured out upon us
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  and begins to heal our scars, our hurt, our anguish, our
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  broken lies, and we begin to be more whole And the basis of
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  being justified by faith. Amen.
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  And justification is not a past tense concept.
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  I'm justified yesterday, I'm justified today, and I'm
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  justified tomorrow, as you are too.
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  Because we still sin. We still make mistakes, we still
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  act in ways or say things that we shouldn't think, things we
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  shouldn't think. And this atoning blood that
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  keeps us pure and justified and forgiving and cleanse is present
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  tense. If we confess our sins, He is
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  faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, isn't He?
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  And to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
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  Anybody still have unrighteousness in your life?
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  Yeah, we all do, right? Aren't you glad that the blood
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  and never loses its power and and and the mistakes aren't to
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  condemn us. We we know where we go to get
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  free from this stuff so that we're not disturbed in our heart
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  and our minds by stuff that we can't fix or change.
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  It's happened. How wonderful, how marvelous
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  what our Savior's done for us. So when all these things have
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  been fulfilled, in verse 29, it was written concerning him.
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  They took him down from the tree, laid him in a tongue.
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  God raised him from the dead. Acts 1331.
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  He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from
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  Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people.
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  And we declare to you glad tidings that promise which is
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  made to the Father's. God has fulfilled this for us,
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  their children, in that He has raised up Jesus, as it is
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  written in the second Psalm. You are my Son today I've
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  begotten you this again, the prophecies that have been
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  fulfilled by Jesus and that he raised him up from the dead.
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  No more to return to corruption. He spoke and I will give you the
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  sure mercies of David. Therefore he also says in
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  another Psalm, you will not allow your holy one to see
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  corruption. Jesus when he was put in the
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  tomb body didn't decompose, wasn't corrupt.
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  You put me or you in the in the grave and go by a week later and
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  dig it up. Guess what the worms, the ants,
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  everything's all over. It's I don't want to gross you
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  out, but it's like starting to like this deteriorate and
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  eventually it's just nothing but bones there.
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  OK, Christ didn't have to go through that.
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  And because He didn't have to go through that, when we die, we
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  don't stay in that grave, in that body.
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  We are absent in the body, and we're present with the Lord for
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  all eternity. For David, after he served his
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  own generation, by the will of God, he fell asleep.
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  Great leader, loved God, God used him, but he died like we
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  all do. He was buried with his father's.
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  His body saw corruption, but he whom God raised up saw no
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  corruption. Therefore let it be known to
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  you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the
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  forgiveness of sins. And by him everyone who believes
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  is justified from all things from which you could not be
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  justified by the Law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest what has
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  been spoken and the prophets come upon you, behold, you
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  despisers marvel and perish. For I work a work in your days,
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  a work which you will by no means believe, though one word
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  He declare it to you. So this beauty here of the
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  message that we're hearing today was so powerful when it was
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  first preached in the synagogue. Over 2000 years ago.
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  It's the same message that is powerful today, that can change
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  and save lives. Amen.
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  It can completely give people a brand new start, a fresh start
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  with God. I preached this message before I
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  went away on vacation and I felt I needed to preach it again
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  because I find that in my own life at times I forget the
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  basics. The basics.
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  Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells
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  me so. For God so loved this world that
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  he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
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  should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
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  world, that that the world through him might be saved.
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  The more I meditate on these things personally, my wife and
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  I, as we talk about this stuff and pray about it and endeavor
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  to live it out, I'm made more and more aware of how powerful
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  and how special this message is that God has granted to us to
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  experience on a daily basis. No condemnation, no guilt, no
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  matter what people will try to throw on you at times, you don't
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  have to receive that because God doesn't throw that on you, does
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  He? When people say hurtful things
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  or do mean things to you, or slander you, or call you all
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  kind of whatever, May God give us grace to remind ourselves
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  that God never says that about us.
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  He never thinks that way about us.
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  Each of us are the apple of His eye.
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  He loves us with and everlasting love.
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  He's redeemed us. He paid for us with His precious
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  blood, and He says to you and me that we were worth saving.
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  He gave it all for us because He saw something in us that none of
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  us can see in ourselves. He sees value, He sees His
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  likeness, He sees His creation, and He gave it all that He might
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  redeem this creation and bring broken people away from
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  desolation, bring people that hearts are broken back to
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  healing, bring people who have been destroyed by a life of sin
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  to a new life of having victory and power over sin, becoming new
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  creations in Christ, new creatures in Christ.
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  We no longer have to live under the enslavement of the power of
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  sin. That's the gospel, isn't it?
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  That's what we need to continually be reminded of every
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  time we gather that this is who our God is and how great he is,
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  and leave with our shoulders lifted, our heads looking up and
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  having hope and joy for tomorrow in a world that seems to be
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  decaying and falling apart. The good news is you aren't
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  decaying and falling apart, are you?
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  Are you getting older? Yeah, that looks like a decay,
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  right? But you know the best is yet to
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  come for us, right? The best is yet to come for us.
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  So be encouraged. Thanks for joining us on today's
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  edition of Living Waters of Grace, a ministry of Calvary
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  Chapel, Westmoreland. Today, Pastor Clark is teaching
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  about the Book of Acts, And as we learn more about Acts, it
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  becomes clear that the early church didn't miss a single
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  opportunity to share the Gospel. In nearly every chapter, you see
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  apostles like Peter and Paul stepping into conversations,
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  crowds, and crises with boldness, ready to proclaim the
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  name of Jesus. Their example challenges us to
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  consider how we might step into gospel moments in our own lives.
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  What doors might God open this week for you to speak truth,
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  offer hope, or live out your faith in a way that points
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  others to him? The story of Acts reminds us we
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  are part of the same mission. Today, let's live with eyes open
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  and hearts ready to respond. We hope you are challenged by
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  today's message. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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  area, we'd love to see you in person this Sunday at 10:30 AM
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  at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
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  For more information, visit calvarychapelonline.com.
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  You could also join our e-mail list, give online or submit a
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  prayer request right from the site.
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  If you can't make it in person, be sure to tune in on the
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  Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel.
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  Subscribe so you never miss new teachings.
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  If you were in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
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  on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping financially
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  support the new station that will reach thousands more
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  listeners. Send financial gifts to Grace
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  FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
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  Once again, we're so grateful you joined us today to be
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  inspired by God's Word. Please tune in again for more
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  Living Waters of Grace.