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Living Waters of Grace 11.25.25 · 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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  Idolatry is fashioned in many ways today.
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  We don't have shrines and temples of of some ridiculous
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  Pagan deity around our necks. At least I hope we don't.
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  But idolatry is in the form of a lot of other things.
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  It can be our material wealth. It can be something we own that
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  we love and that every time we see it, we just smile and say
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  that's mine, you know? And I'm going to give hours a
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  day to whatever I think is important.
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  That's mine. It could be making sure you see
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  every football game possible on Sundays, or maybe it's never
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  missing a single CrossFit session.
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  You have ATV show that you claim as yours.
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  Or maybe you own a car that you can't stand to have any
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  scratches on. Pastor Clark makes it clear
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  today that idolatry in today's time is different than Bible
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  times. And yet it's kind of the same.
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  It's giving your heart and your devotion over to something other
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  than God. So take some time and think
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  about this. What or who are you worshipping
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  now? Here's Pastor Clark in the book
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  of Acts Chapter 19 with today's edition of Living Waters of
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  Grace. Acts chapter 19.
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  We're going to look at the verse 18 before we go into today's
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  text. And many who had believed came
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  confessing and telling their deeds.
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  Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their
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  books together and burned them in the sight of all.
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  And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled 50,000
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  pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew
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  mightily and prevailed. Verse 21.
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  And when these things were accomplished, then Paul's going
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  to begin to talk about what's next in his life.
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  This is a big deal. And what happened here and what
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  we read about Whenever the Holy Spirit works in our lives, there
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  is a transition from one way of living to a new way of living.
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  And I loved it when Pastor Lewis was teaching us in First
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  Thessalonians because there's a verse there that really ties
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  into what happened to these people in Ephesus.
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  Same thing with the Thessalonian believers in First Thessalonians
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  19. It said what manner of entry we
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  had to you. In other words, the apostles are
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  saying how the Word impacted him and how you turn to God from
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  idols to serve the living and true God.
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  So conversion or repentance or belief in faith in Jesus Christ
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  is just not like this mental thing we we do.
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  So we go to heaven. I mean, that's a good thing that
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  we go to heaven if we trust in Christ.
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  But it's much deeper than this believing so that we might have
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  a better life. Now, the purpose of coming to
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  Christ is a term from the old way of life, the way we used to
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  live and the way we used to be wired in other, in other words,
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  and how we thought about life and what we did in our lives,
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  the things we regret now that we're Christian.
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  So true repentance is always a change of mind.
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  You change the way you're living.
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  And even to this day when I study the Scriptures and when I
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  pray and I have my time with the Lord, I'm always open.
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  I want him to show me things in my life that He wants to still
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  change. It's not like once we become
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  Christians, we don't need to change, right?
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  There's this continual transformation by the Holy
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  Spirit to conform us more to the image and likeness of Jesus.
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  So when I whenever I'm talking to the Lord and and thinking
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  about things I say to him, is there anything in my life right
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  now that isn't the way it should be that you want to change, that
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  you want me to to look at differently and respond to you
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  differently. And there's never really a time
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  where he doesn't share something with me that's helpful to help
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  me want to be more like him and to let go of some things that
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  sometimes get in the way of my relationship with him.
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  And that's that intimacy, that relationship we have with Jesus.
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  And as we were worshipping, I, I was thinking back there that
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  it's so incredible that each of us can have a personal
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  relationship with the Lord that I've never physically, outside
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  of a spiritual touch, touch the Lord.
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  I, I haven't seen him as, as a human being other than the lives
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  and the writings of the Scripture.
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  I don't see him like I, I see you physically at this point in
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  time, but one day I will see him.
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  The Bible says we'll see him face to face and we will see him
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  and we shall become like him because we shall see him as he
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  is. He truly is.
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  So one day we will have that privilege of physically
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  encountering Jesus as a man and as a as a risen savior when we
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  go to heaven. But what's incredible for you
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  and I, when we think about this privilege we have to have this
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  communion with the Lord, is that we can talk with him moment by
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  moment, That we can lay our head down in the pillow at night when
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  we're troubled and, and talk to him and he listens and he
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  responds to us when we're overwhelmed by life and this
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  having difficulty with whatever we might be going through, we
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  can ask for his help and he'll help us.
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  He's he's always near. I love what it tells us in
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  Hebrews that we don't have a high priest who cannot be
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  touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, our infirmities, but
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  was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
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  And then the writer says that we can have boldness to enter into
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  the holy place by the blood of Jesus, this relationship of
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  Christ shed blood that enables sinners to go into the presence
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  of God and not be rejected. And we can go into that throne
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  room of grace and find mercy and help in our time of need.
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  Isn't that wonderful? You don't have to come to church
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  in your time of need. You can go right to Jesus
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  wherever you are, in your car, in your house, in your
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  apartment, in your bedroom, and you know, your leisure time.
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  You, you can go to the Lord 24/7.
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  And how privileged we are to have that relationship.
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  And I hope and I trust that you're taking advantage of that
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  relationship. The Lord has provided for you
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  through his death, burial, and resurrection, that you can have
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  a real conversation with God and he'll have a real conversation
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  back with you. That's priceless.
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  And this is something that the world doesn't know about.
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  We see the headlines this past week of this tremendous,
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  horrific assault on this young man who didn't do anything other
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  than run, and he was assaulted and brutalized and murdered for
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  no good reason. And this is just a tippity
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  iceberg. We get the the news all the
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  time. I mean, I'm reading about
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  husbands shooting wives, wives killing husbands, riots, mobs,
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  you know, fighting, you know, out in the streets and trying to
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  force us as Christians to accept godless ideologies and, and, and
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  basically wanting to shut us up and to tell us that our opinions
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  don't matter and, and in regard to marriage or sexuality or
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  whatever. And so we're living in times
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  when you study this with me today, understand that this is
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  going on today too, Not to the degree that it was an Ephesus in
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  America. Pray that it never will been in
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  Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Emirate Republic,
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  Pakistan, India, you know, China, all these places in the
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  world, people are being brutally tortured for their faith in
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  Jesus Christ. And so as we study this, we have
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  to understand the courage that Paul had.
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  Paul was not afraid of a fight. God gave him the strength to
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  persevere. He always had this desire to
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  take the gospel to wherever he could take it.
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  And he always had a great attitude.
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  He was always positive, he was always joyful.
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  He had his time of struggles. He talked about despairing of
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  life itself at times and being brutalized himself and people
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  throwing rocks at him and that kind of stuff.
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  But it never stopped him from what it was that God called him
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  to do. And I think about your call as a
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  Christian mind. As a Christian, God has certain
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  purposes for your life and relationships He wants you to
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  have with people. And lots of times those
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  relationships will end up in conflict because of your
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  position regarding who Jesus Christ is and how you live.
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  Some people will reject you, some people won't like you, some
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  people want to argue with you, some people want to slander you
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  or whatever. At this point in time, you know,
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  they might even want to fight you or beat you or whatever.
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  I, I, I pray that's not the case in our time.
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  But we have to be ready for whatever may come down the road.
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  And we have to be willing to stand as the apostle Paul stood
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  and those who served with him in this particular time.
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  So Paul is purposing in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit speaking
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  to Paul about the next goal that the Lord had for him.
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  That is, he's beginning to complete his ministry after a
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  couple years in Ephesus. He's been teaching for two years
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  in that Bible school. The school tyrannis 8 hours, 6
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  hours, 8 hours a day for six days a week for two to three
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  years. If you were in that place with
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  him, you would be out on the streets sharing what it is you
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  have learned because it was just so living and so fresh and so
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  alive and so anointed of God. People's lives are being
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  transformed to the degree and it was impacting the commerce of
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  this Pagan city in a very negative way.
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  And it says when he had passed through Macedonia and Arcade to
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  go to Jerusalem, saying after I've been there, I must also see
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  Rome. So already Paul has got his eyes
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  on other opportunities to minister, and so it says in
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  verse 22, so he sent into Macedonia two of those who
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  ministered to him, Timothy and Rastus, but he himself stayed in
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  Asia for a time. Now, there's a lot of things
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  that go on when we study the Bible.
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  You sort of have to be willing to look at some other passages
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  in order to have some things make sense because he's talking
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  about a lot of geography here. But if you looked at these maps,
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  you would see how, how close these different places were and
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  how you were able to get to these different places in a
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  period of days or weeks or whatever, using boats or donkeys
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  or walking, whatever. And so there was no part in that
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  known world at the time that Paul wasn't anxious to get to to
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  do the ministry. And so this this issue here of
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  these different places he's mentioning, Paul wrote to the
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  Corinthian church from the city of Ephesus.
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  And the Corinthians is another book in the Bible we'll get to
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  eventually. He also wrote from Rome to
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  Ephesus. So why was he interested in
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  going to Rome? And I want to look at Romans
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  chapter 15 for a minute. And this all ties together with
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  Paul's great heart of missions. It says in the heading there
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  plan to visit Rome. For this reason I also have been
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  much hindered from coming to you.
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  But now I'm no longer having a place in these parts and having
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  a great desire of these many years to come to you whenever I
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  journey to Spain. So not any was he planning on
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  going to Rome, but he eventually wanted to get to Spain.
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  I don't know if he ever got there or not.
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  We don't have any indication he did or didn't.
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  But that was a plan. He says I shall come come to you
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  for I hope to see you on my journey and to be helped on my
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  way there by you. If first I may enjoy your
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  company for a while. So Paul not, and he liked
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  teaching, but he liked being around people like us so he
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  could have fellowship with them because we would encourage him.
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  But now I'm going to Jerusalem to minister to the Saints.
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  Now, Jerusalem was in a time of famine and poverty.
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  And so whenever we know about people who are in crisis,
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  through missions, our own missionaries that we support, or
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  through Calvary Chapel, that lets us know about different
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  things that are going on in the world.
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  We have the ability to budget part of what it is.
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  It comes in through the offerings to go help people in
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  crisis, even though we're not going to physically be there.
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  And so Paul's going to Jerusalem to minister to the Saints for
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  it, please those from Macedonia and IKEA to make a certain
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  contribution for the poor among the Saints who are in Jerusalem.
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  So Paul sending Timothy and Erasus to these places to
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  receive the offerings that these cities had stored up for the
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  help of those who are suffering in Jerusalem.
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  And it says it pleased them indeed, and they are their
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  debtors. For if the Gentiles have been
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  partakers of the spiritual things, so in other words, they
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  became believers because of Paul and the ministry and the Word
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  and the gospel. Their duty now is also to
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  minister to the people that helped them in material things.
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  Therefore, when I performed this sealed to them this fruit, I
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  shall go by way of you to Spain. But I know that when I come, I
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  shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of
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  Christ. So here we are reading about
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  things an ethicist, but Paul spiritually multitasking like
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  you and I do, you're thinking about maybe later what you're
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  going to do and you know, is a Bengals going to win or the
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  Chiefs and all these things are thinking about today, right?
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  Really important stuff I must say, right?
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  Depending on who you want to win, right, But you know, you're
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  thinking about next week and family and people that you wish
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  would come to church with you that haven't yet or people that
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  you love that don't know the Lord yet.
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  You have all these thoughts and you're thinking, well, I take
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  this trip to this place one day and I see these friends or
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  relatives or these coworkers. I'm going to tell them more
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  about my faith and what Christ did for me.
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  That's that's a good thing that the Holy Spirit is always
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  putting things in our heart that we can think about doing in the
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  days ahead, the further the gospel.
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  But Paul, even though he's an Asian Ephesus, at this time,
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  he's already thinking about all these other things that need to
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  be accomplished. And 1st Corinthians is also
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  tying into this. If you turn there, First
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  Corinthians 16, I read verses one through 4 and Pauls talking
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  about this collection that they're going to take to
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  Jerusalem. Now concerning the collection
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  for the Saints, as I've given orders to the churches of
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  Galatia, so you must do also on the first day of the week, let
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  each one of you lay something up aside, storing up as he may
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  prosper, that there be no collections.
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  When I came, when I come, and when I come, whomever you
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  approve by your letters, I will send to bear your gift to
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  Jerusalem. But if it is fitting that I go
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  also, they will go with me. So, So these churches work
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  together and obviously they gave offerings like we do, you know,
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  monthly or weekly or however we do it online or anything
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  offering boxes outside. So that like if there's a big
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  issue here, and I've never had to do this, nor has Lewis not,
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  nor do we ever want to do it. We're not interested in begging
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  for money or asking for money. You guys give liberally as God
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  is purpose in your heart for God loves a cheerful giver.
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  He doesn't want to manipulate any of us.
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  He doesn't want to force us. That's a privilege that we give
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  what it is that the Lord prospers us with.
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  But whenever we have a need or a missionary rights us or we have
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  something in our heart of benevolence or crisis in the
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  church, we don't have to say, well, this family has this
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  problem. We're going to take a special
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  offering today so we can help this family or help these
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  missionaries. Everything that comes into the
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  church is put in a a general fund for George, who's the
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  financial guy here to help us determine what it is we can
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  budget and how we can help. And so the Lord has never not
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  had funds in the storehouse for us to be able to use things for
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  people and missionaries and struggles and people in in
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  crisis and that kind of stuff. And this is all taught
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  throughout the New Testament. So as Paul is working in
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  Ephesus, he already has a heart in his mind.
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  He's serving the believers in Ephesus, but he's concerned
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  about the church in Jerusalem and he's also wanting to go
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  visit these other places to see how they're doing since the
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  churches have been established. That's a beautiful, beautiful
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  thing to, to see how these things are all weaved together
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  in the Scriptures. And, and about that time in
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  verse 23, as as he's thinking and planning and and talking
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  about the things ahead, there arose a great commotion about
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  the way. The way was considered the name
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  of the new group of followers of Jesus Christ.
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  Yeah, The way represented John 14-6, where Jesus said I am the
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  way, I am the truth. I'm the life.
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  No man comes to the Father but through me.
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  The way is the only way. There is only one way, right?
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  His way. And he said, it's so clear.
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  Aren't you glad he didn't say, well, I'm one of the ways, or
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  this is something you should consider?
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  There are other ways. No, he was real clear so we
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  wouldn't be confused. Jesus is the only way, and we're
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  not bigoted. We believe what he said and we
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  know it's true because we found the truth in regard to our
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  salvation is only wrought in the person, in the work of Jesus
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  Christ. He's the only one that has
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  conquered the grave. He's only the one that's
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  overcome death. He's the only one that's
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  sinless. He's the only one that's
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  perfect, and He's the only one that could die on the cross to
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  redeem us and save us and atone for our sins.
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  And so these people are uptight about this issue of the way a
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  lot of people are getting aggravated and why Verse 24 for
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  a certain man named Demetrius, the silversmith who made silver
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  shrines of Diana brought no small profit to the Craftsman.
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  So this guy made his livelihood from making idols out of silver
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  and crafting these little mini miniature gods, replicating the
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  temple of the person of Diana the high priestess, if you may.
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  And it was really a weird image and multi breasted woman.
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  And the temple prostitutes at this temple of Diana would go in
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  their short skirts and and have one breast exposed to represent
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  the the deity of this Diana temple prostitutes.
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  All kind of Pagan rituals and occultic things going on.
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  I mean, the whole thing was crazy.
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  What's happening is Paul and his preaching in the school at
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  Tyrannis. People like us are there and all
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  of a sudden maybe we had these little idols in our house or
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  warm around our neck. Some people did that.
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  All of a sudden we're hearing the word of God and the truth
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  regarding Jesus Christ, and all of a sudden we want to get rid
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  of these things, right? And that was the purpose of the
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  fire and burning those things and throwing them away.
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  This being free from it. Well, as a result of this
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  happening in the community in the city of Ephesus, there was
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  less people buying these things. So if you made good living by
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  making these things, maybe you're selling, you know, 1000 a
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  week or something. And all of a sudden you look at
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  your numbers and now they're 600 a week and then they're 400 a
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  week and then they're three. You know, you're, you're
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  starting to get bothered, right? Because you know that what's
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  happening in the city now is impacting your livelihood.
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  So this is the purpose of why Demetrius is beginning to get
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  this crowd together, because he made these silver shrines of
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  Diana and it brought a lot of money to the Craftsman who were.
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  Involved in it, it says in verse 24 he called them together with
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  the workers of similar occupation.
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  So he's getting all the people in the union together to tell
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  them about what's going on and why the numbers are down and why
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  the revenue is a lot less than what it once was.
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  Because they probably didn't really quite grasp the impact
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  that Christianity was having in the city of Ephesus.
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  So he calls them together and he says, man, you know that we have
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  our prosperity by this trade. This is how we make our
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  livelihood. Moreover, you see in here that
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  not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this
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  Paul has persuaded and turned away many people saying that
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  they are not gods which are made with hands.
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  Now, Paul never once picketed in front of the temple of Diana.
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  There's no indication that he was there with signs and, and,
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  and telling everybody, don't go in there and don't do this.
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  Don't do that. He was just teaching the word.
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  And whenever you teach the word, it has an impact on lives.
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  It it changes your thought process, it changes your
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  worldview. It changes what your priorities
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  are and what you invest and spend your money on you.
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  If you're doing things that aren't right, the Holy Spirit
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  convicts you and speaks to your heart inwardly and says, you
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  know this isn't cool. You know, you know, you really
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  need to let this go. You need to move away from this,
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  this idol or whatever it might be.
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  An idolatry is fashioned in many ways today.
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  We don't have shrines and temples of, of some ridiculous
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  Pagan deity around our necks. At least I hope we don't.
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  But idolatries in the form of a lot of other things.
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  It can be our material wealth. It can be something we own that
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  we love and that every time we see it, we just smile and say,
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  that's mine, you know? And I'm going to give hours a
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  day to whatever I think is important.
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  That's mine. And so we begin to become
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  consumed and controlled by metal and, and, and leather and tires.
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  And those cars are the biggest idols for all of us.
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  When you first get it, you know, you're excited and there's
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  nothing wrong with having a nice car, but it can really overcome
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  you, can't it? Especially when someone wrecks
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  into it. You just bought it.
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  Like it happened to me. I'm in Philadelphia and someone
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  knocks my mirror on my Sienna and I'm like, you got to be
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  kidding me. You know, it's just like, I just
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  got this thing the Lord said, Clark, it's just a piece of
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  metal and it's a means to an end.
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  It's how you make your livelihood.
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  It's how you stay safe and drive around.
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  But I, I had to, I had to sort of like repent a little bit.
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  John's an auto body guy. He likes it when we wreck.
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  That's good for you, your prosperity.
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  But you know, I had to think like, well, you know, it's just
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  a car, right? But things can control our
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  hearts at times, can't they? How about our houses?
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  Nothing wrong with having nice houses, but when they begin to
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  have problems, how can it begin to make us depressed or upset or
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  uptight? Or, you know, it's, it's
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  interesting. I love sports.
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  Many of you do too. But if my whole life was like,
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  well, you know, I'm not going to go to church today because I'll
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  miss the kickoff. And, and I actually did that
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  when I was younger. The Steelers were kicking off at
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  like 12, man, I was, I was the first one out the door at 11:30.
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  Cindy, come on, we got to go. Where are we going?
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  The game is starting at that. Pastor's going to go on and on
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  and on. Let's get out of here.
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  One pastor, he like tortured us. He'd have an Alder call,
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  especially in a big stealer day. And I knew man, we were going to
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  miss like at least 1/2 an hour to have the game.
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  We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living
• 24:00
  Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through
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  the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the
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  history of the early church immediately after Jesus's
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  ascension. It gives us a front row seat to
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  how the Gospel began to move outwards, starting in Jerusalem
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  and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire.
• 24:20
  In just three decades, a small group of frightened ordinary
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  believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement that
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  transformed the known world. Acts is not just a history
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  lesson. It's a reminder of what God can
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  do when His people are surrendered, obedient and filled
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  with the Holy Spirit. Their perseverance still
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  inspires us today. May we follow their example and
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  live faithfully for Christ in our own time.
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  We hope today's message encouraged you.
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  Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel,
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  Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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  area, we'd love to have you join us in person.
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  Our Sunday service begins at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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  Unit 6B. Be sure to visit
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  calvarychapelonline.com to confirm times and learn more.
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  If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM
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  on the new 91.7 frequency. Please pray about supporting
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  this outreach. Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO
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  Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. Stay connected through Facebook,
• 25:33
  YouTube, or our Calvary Chapel Westmoreland app.
• 25:37
  Join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, and give online
• 25:42
  all at calvarychapelonline.com. Thank you for tuning in and
• 25:47
  spending this time in God's Word.
• 25:48
  Be sure to join us again for Living Waters of Grace.