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Living Waters of Grace 12.01.25 · 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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I don't know if we were told that prior to becoming
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believers. If someone said, by the way, if
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you commit your life to Christ and you really want to follow
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him and be serious about him, you're going to have some
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struggles in life, persecution. And how many people would be
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willing to sign up for that? No one told me that.
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So I just believe real simply, and I'm thankful I did.
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But if someone would have told me, if you become a believer,
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you're going to have a lot of struggles, I might have had to
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think about it a little bit. You may have heard it taught
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that if you give your life to Jesus, all your troubles will
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disappear. Well, in his message today,
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Pastor Clark wants to set a few things straight.
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You see, it is true. The biggest problem you'll ever
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face in life is sin. So when you give your life to
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Christ, you'll be forgiven of your sin and receive eternal
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life. But The thing is that when you
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follow Christ, you're choosing to do so in hostile territory.
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Following Jesus is a difficult journey, but the destination is
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eternal life. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts
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Chapter 8 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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This is Acts chapter 8 where Paul was baptized by Ananias and
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it talked about the things that we're going to occur in his life
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and it says there how many things he must suffer for my
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name's sake. So Paul was going to suffer a
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great deal because he was a follower of now Jesus Christ.
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And we don't think about that. We become believers.
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We sometimes think that everything is going to be
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perfect and awesome and no more problems, no more worries, no
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more difficulties. But if you've been a Christian
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for any length of time, you know that's just part of the story,
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right? There is a lot of wonderful
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things we experience, a lot of joy, a lot of overcoming power
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in our life. We're not stuck in sin anymore,
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but the difficulties we struggle with many times have to do with
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people that don't want to identify with us anymore because
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we've become believers. Sometimes that happens in a
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household where maybe a husband becomes a believer in the wife
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isn't yet or vice versa, or kids that aren't interested or family
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members. And sometimes you're rejected by
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your own family because of your faith in the Lord and that's
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very, very painful to deal with. Also sometimes work, sometimes
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employers if they find out that you're and zealous through your
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faith and following Jesus Christ, they sometimes aren't
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interested in promoting you or maybe they're interested in
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eliminating your position. This has happened to many people
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even in our own country. And so I wanted to look at a
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couple verses regarding the difficulty that we have at times
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because we're Christians and just be upfront about what we do
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go through. And Second Timothy, Pastor Lewis
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had taught us on this a few weeks ago.
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But second Timothy chapter 3, this is a good reminder
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regarding what will happen when we become followers of Jesus
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Christ. It tells us in verse 11 he
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speaks about this issue of persevering and persecutions
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afflictions which happened to me at Antioch at Iconium at Lystra
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what persecutions I endured out of them all the Lord delivered
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me. Yes and all who desire to live
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godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
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I don't know if we were told that prior to becoming
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believers. If someone said by the way, if
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you commit your life to Christ and you really want to follow
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him and be serious about him. You're going to have some
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struggles in life persecution and how many people would be
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willing to sign up for that. No one told me that, so I just
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believe real simply, and I'm thankful I did.
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But if someone would have told me, if you become a believer,
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you're going to have a lot of struggles.
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I might have had to think about it a little bit, but now it's
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too late. I'm already a believer, I have
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gone through a lot and then we'll continually go through a
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lot as you guys do too, following Jesus Christ.
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But I wouldn't turn back or regret anything thus far in my
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life. Regardless of the challenges and
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difficulties that we experience as believers in Psalm chapter
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34, this is a tremendous encouragement.
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Psalm chapter 34. We'll flip through the Bible a
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little bit here before we get started in Acts 21 today, but I
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just wanted to sort of lay a foundation for why we go through
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what we go through, and how the Lord is there to help us
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continually. Psalm 34 verses 19 it says many
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are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers
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him out of them all. He guards all his bones, not one
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of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and
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those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
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The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who
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trust in him shall be condemned. I like what it says in verse 17
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of that Psalm. The righteous cry out and the
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Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
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So we all go through challenges, difficulties, but we can be
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assured that when we call upon the Lord, he hears us and he
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will eventually bring us through the difficult times.
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And I love this. The Lord is near to those who
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have a broken heart and say such as have a contrite spirit.
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So when we're struggling, when our heart is broken, when we're
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overwhelmed, we call upon the Lord, we cry out to him, we ask
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for his help. He's always there to listen and
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come alongside of us and get us through those challenging times.
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Jesus himself and the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 tells us
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how to deal with the challenges that we go through.
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It says in Matthew 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for
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righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.
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Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say
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all kinds of evil against you falsely for my name's sake.
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Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in
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heaven. For so they persecuted the
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prophets who were before you. And Jesus has written this to
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all of us, and we are persecuted.
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We can thank the Lord that we are counted worthy as followers
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of Jesus Christ to be suffering and challenged at times and have
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difficulty from people who don't believe in the Lord and aren't
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interested in following Him at this point in time.
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And people watch how you and I walk through adversity and
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persecutions. We have to show one another that
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no matter how hard life can get at times and the challenges that
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we face, we're trusting the Lord, right?
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We're depending on him. We're not giving up, we're not
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complaining, we're not whining. We're just OK, I'm going to
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believe God in this challenge. And many times, you know, the
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persecution comes this not from people who are unbelievers, but
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it comes also from the enemy, the devil.
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He comes to steal, rob, kill and destroy.
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The devil is our enemies is not our friend and many times
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affliction, adversity, financial challenges, health issues,
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conflict. This is all part of what we deal
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with as followers of Jesus Christ in this world.
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Jesus said we will have tribulation, but he said be of
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good cheer have overcome the world.
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And then the apostle Paul himself that wrote the book of
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Romans, you know, he also verifies the fact and we know
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what he's been through and study more and acts what he went
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through. It says in verse 3.
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And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing
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that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance,
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character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint
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because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the
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Holy Spirit who was given to us. So when we have these challenges
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and these difficulties in our lives, they cause us to grow
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deeper in the Lord, don't they? They humble us.
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They make us realize that there's more to life than this.
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Focusing on what I can get from this present life in this world.
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Whenever I go through struggles and difficulties, it reflects
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upon my potential to be superficial as a Christian at
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times, not to be all in maybe or be sidetracked by something
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else. It's attracting my attention.
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And whenever a persecution comes, or an adversity or a
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trial or even a chastening of the Lord is discipline, whatever
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it causes me to, you know, get on my face before the Lord and
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begin to live for what really matters again, right?
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Not living for temporal stuff, not living for this, my own
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sense of my own opinion or my own feelings or my own hope to
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have everything go well all the time.
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It doesn't work that way. So the Lord allows the trials
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and we, none of us like him, none of us like the persecution,
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none of us like the afflictions, none of us like the tribulation,
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whatever term you want to call it.
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But we all have to go through these things because this is how
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God makes us more like himself, his Son, Jesus Christ.
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This is how we become conformed more to the image and likeness
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of Jesus. And the Bible is full of
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teaching on adversity. I don't know how some of these
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teachers on TV talk about, you know, the best life.
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Now, the best life is when you're with the Lord in heaven
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for all, all eternity, right? That's the that's what we're
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looking for. But in this world, we do have
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many joys and we and experience many joys and blessings.
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But we also have to understand that this is part of the
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identity of being Christians. It tells us in the book of
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Hebrews, it refers to some of the people that went through
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difficult times. It says some of these people
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that were used by the Lord in past times.
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They stopped the mouths of lions in Hebrews Chapter 11.
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They quenched the violence of fire.
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They escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness, were made
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strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight.
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The armies of the aliens women received their dead, raised to
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life again. Others were tortured, not
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accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better
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resurrection. Still others had trials of
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mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
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They were stoned, they were son, and two were tempted, were slain
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with the sword. They wandered about, and
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sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
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of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts
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and mountains and dens and caves of the earth.
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And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith,
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did not receive the promise. God having provided something
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better for us, that they should not be made perfect.
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Apart from us, all these people went through all these difficult
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trials and heartache and torture and adversity and pain, and they
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didn't see what we have experience in regard to the
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death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
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They were looking forward to that.
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Now we look back and we remember what Christ did and how he
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suffered for us. And so when we go through
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suffering, Jesus makes us partners together with him
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because if we're going to take part in the resurrection, it
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says we're also going to have to endure the sufferings that
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Christ went through personally. We identify with these things
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ourselves. And it's a wonderful thing when
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you can see it from a biblical perspective that whatever you
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may be going through, you're not alone.
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People in countless years of history before you and I have
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gone through things that have been even more difficult and
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more challenging to deal with. And Paul also says in verse 10
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of 2nd Corinthians 12, therefore, I take pleasure in
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infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and
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distress for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
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strong. Amen.
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So whenever we get beaten down and we feel like we can't go on
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and we're overwhelmed and just, you know, like over everything
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that's happening in life, we just don't want to have to deal
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with it or whatever the Holy Spirit comes upon us, encourages
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us. And all of a sudden we realize
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that we're strongest when we're weakest, when we're weak in
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ourselves, we're strong in the Lord.
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And that's the upside of the challenges that we go through
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now since we're hitting on difficulties regarding these
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kind of situations in life. I wanted to read something here
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in regards to persecution. This is important to know
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because right now in our country, we still have the
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ability to do what we're doing today.
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No one's going to break in here and tell us we can't worship.
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No one's going to handcuff me and say, well, you, we're taking
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you to jail and you're never going to be able to talk about
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this stuff again. That's happening in places in
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the world right now. It's hard for us to understand
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that, but it's true. One in eight Christians
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worldwide live in countries where they may face persecution.
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So one in eight people are facing unbelievable situations.
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Open Doors and international NGO advocating on behalf of
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persecuted Christians released their annual World Watch List.
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The World Watch List assesses 50 countries where Christians face
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the most severe types of persecution.
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The newly published data reveals that during the reporting
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period, and this is from October and 2019 through September a
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couple years later, more than 340 million Christians were
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living in countries and where they might suffer high levels of
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persecution and discrimination because of their faith.
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Among this #309,000,000 Christians were living in
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countries where they would experience unbelievable
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situations that one in eight worldwide, one in six in Africa,
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two out of five in Asia, and one in 12 in Latin America.
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It researched this time that Christians. 4761 Christians were
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killed for their faith. 4488 churches or Christian buildings
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were attacked. 4277 Christians were unjustly arrested, detained
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or in prison. 17110 Christians were abducted for faith related
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reasons. On average every day 13
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Christians are killed for their faith. 12 churches or Christian
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buildings were attacked. 12 Christians are unjustly
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arrested, detained, or in prison and five Christians are abducted
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for faith related reason. It's hard to comprehend that
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this is occurring right now throughout the world.
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Extreme levels of persecution. Some of these places are so
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radically insane that you would never consider wanting to be a
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missionary in North Korea ranks #1 as a world's worst persecutor
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of Christians. For the 20th consecutive year,
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being a Christian in North Korea is a death sentence.
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If not killed, Christians are taken to labor camps as
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political criminals. Kim Jong Un is reported to have
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expanded the system of prison camps in which an estimated 50
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to 70,000 Christians are currently in prison.
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Nigeria also entered the top 10 for the first time, reaching a
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maximum violence score. Nigerian Christians face violent
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attacks from Islamic extremist groups including Boko Haram,
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Falami Muslim militia, Dairish affiliate, especially in
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northern Nigeria. In the Middle Belt and Nigeria,
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men and boys are particularly vulnerable to being killed.
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The women and children they leave behind are often displaced
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to informal camps, face sexual violence, or even at risk of
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abduction and forced marriage. China has entered the top 20 for
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the first time in a decade due to ongoing and increasing
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surveillance and censorship of Christians and other religious
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minorities in China. The policy of Since sizing the
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church has been implemented nationwide as a Communist Party
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limits whatever it perceives as a threat to its role in
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ideology. Thousands of churches have been
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damaged or closed. In some parts of China, children
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under the age of 18 aren't allowed to attend church, part
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of the country's effort to stunt future growth.
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While China is ranked 17th as a place where Christians are
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subjected to high level persecution, the situation of
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all religious groups China is dire and has been deteriorating
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over recent years. Considering the current trends
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of persecution in China, it's expected that China will be
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topping the list soon with North Korea as a worse place to live
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as a Christian. I mean, there's an agenda that
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the world has to basically eliminate Christianity from the
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face of the earth. And so that's why it's even more
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important for now for churches like ours to be simply teaching
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the Bible simply verse by verse, day by day, week by week, month
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by month, year by year. Having young people over there
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getting discipled in the truth of the gospel so that their
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worldview is a biblical worldview.
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And they can stand against all this agenda of all this
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godlessness that's occurring at the top levels of our government
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today. We have to pray like we've never
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prayed before, intercede, get before the Lord.
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The Lord knows what's happening, but He's only going to move in
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the degree that we're all committed together as a group of
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people in our nation to pray for our country and that we can be 1
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nation under God again. For right now, we are one nation
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under secular humanism and moral relativism.
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You and I are one nation under God.
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We're the remnant, we're the church, we're the believers.
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But the ongoing issues of our ideology, of our governmental
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system right now and denouncing our Constitution, among many
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other things, freedom of religion, freedom of rights,
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culture wars, everything is occurring right now to divide
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people and to cause more and more chaos in our world.
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We need to just simply keep teaching the truth.
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And Jesus told us that these things would occur in the last
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days. And so the last days could be
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another 1000 years. I don't know.
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They felt like Paul and those guys, they all felt that they
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were in the last days in the book of the Acts.
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But obviously it's been 2000 years.
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So the Lord's on the scene, He's on the way.
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He's with us. He'll never leave us or forsake
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us. But that's why it's important to
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study the Bible so that when you were going through trials and
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you're going through difficulties and things, you'd
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understand. You go back to the Scriptures
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and you're reminded God's got it all under control, doesn't He?
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Amen. He's on the throne.
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No matter what we read, no matter what we see, no matter
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what we hear, His will is going to be completely, 100%
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ultimately accomplished. And that's what gives us the
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encouragement to keep on keeping on.
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So turning your Bibles to Acts 21, this is the subtitle.
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My Bible says warnings on the journey to Jerusalem.
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So Paul has been persecuted at times.
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He's been put in jail for a day or two.
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But it's going to get a lot worse for him in these remaining
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chapters of Acts. Now it came to pass that when he
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had departed from them he set sail, running a straight course
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we came to cost. The following day it arose, and
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from there to Partara, and finding a ship sailing over to
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Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.
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And when we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed
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to Syria and landed a tire, for there the ship was to unload her
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cargo. And finding disciples, we stayed
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there seven days. So the wonderful thing is that
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they found believers and they want to have some fellowship
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now. So let's pray.
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Father God, we are here today as a body of Christ believers to
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encourage one another to build each other up.
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That's the very presence of every life here today represents
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people who are following you and trusting in you and living for
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you, Lord, and your Kingdom. And from your vantage point, we
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are the majority because heaven and earth will pass away, that
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all those who do the will of God and the truth of the Word of God
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will abide forever. You promise us these things,
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Lord. So as we study today, we humble
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our hearts before you that we might be able to be taught by
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your Holy Spirit. Because you resist the proud,
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You give grace to the humble. In Your name, Lord Jesus, I
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humble myself along with my brothers and sisters that we
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would be open to believe and no need to believe, but live out
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the things we learned today and we pray all these things in
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Jesus name, Amen. So he's there fellowshipping
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with people. Some of these people he never
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met before. I'm sure most of them he didn't.
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He knew maybe something about them.
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They were a result of the persecution that occurred in the
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early part of the church and Acts, where churches spread out
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and those regions and so many, many people became followers of
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Christ. Paul wasn't responsible for
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every church plan or every move that had occurred at that part
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of the world at that time. And so they began to speak to
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Paul. They told Paul through the
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Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.
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The Holy Spirit's laying it upon their hearts to tell Paul that
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it isn't a good idea to go to Jerusalem.
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OK, He's hearing it right from them.
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And when he had come to the end of those days, we departed, and
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we went on our way, and they all accompanied us with wives and
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children till we were out of the city, and we knelt down on the
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shore and prayed. And when he had taken our leave
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of one another, we boarded the ship and they returned home.
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And what a beautiful setting. I'm an ocean guy.
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And boy, I'll tell you, nothing better than praying on the
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beach, right? And he's there with his brothers
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and sisters and saying goodbye. And the kids are there and the
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families are there and they're just worshiping the Lord and
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they're praying for Godspeed and blessing upon the apostle Paul.
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So you can mark in your notes, that's one warning right there
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that he shouldn't go to Jerusalem.
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Verse 7. And when he had finished our
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voyage from Tyre, we came to put Talamas and greeted the brethren
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and stayed with them one day. On the next day we who were
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Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the
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House of Philip the Evangelist who was one of the seven and
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stayed with him. You remember Philip had
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witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch.
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He was one of the seven that was picked to help serve tables in
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the church. The church was growing so much
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they needed physical help to take care of the widows and some
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of the other issues in the church.
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But these are spirit filled men, gifted men with callings and
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teaching abilities and preaching and evangelistic opportunities.
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Philip was one of these seven and he went down and he went and
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preached to the Ethiopian eunuch.
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That guy ended up getting saved after he heard Philip explain
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what Isaiah 53 meant. And eventually he baptized this
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man in the water, complete immersion, baptized him in the
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river there, and he came up. And then Philip was translated
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and This is why he was able to go from 1:00 point in time and
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space, and he was taken to another place approximately 3035
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miles away. We're so glad you joined us
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today on this edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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Pastor Clark is teaching through the book of Acts, which is the
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only book that chronicles the history of the early church
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immediately after Jesus's ascension.
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It gives us a front row seat to how the Gospel began to move
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outward, starting in Jerusalem and reaching into the heart of
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the Roman Empire. In just three decades, a small
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group of frightened ordinary believers became a bold, spirit
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empowered movement that transformed the known world.
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Acts is not just a history lesson.
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It's a reminder of what God can do when His people are
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surrendered, obedient, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
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Their perseverance still inspires us today.
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May we follow their example and live faithfully for Christ in
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our own time. We hope today's message
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encouraged you. Living Waters of Grace is a
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ministry of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland.
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If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we'd love to have you join
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us in person. Our Sunday service begins at
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10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
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Be sure to visit calvarychapelonline.com to
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confirm times and learn more. If you are in the Greensburg
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area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency.
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Please pray about supporting this outreach.
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Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
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Stay connected through Facebook, YouTube, or our Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland app. Join our e-mail list, submit
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prayer requests, and give online all at calvarychapelonline.com.
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Thank you for tuning in and spending this time in God's
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Word. Be sure to join us again for
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Living Waters of Grace.