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Living Waters of Grace for April 6th, 2026

Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  1. This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark

  2. Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,

  3. County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he

  4. continues teaching through God's Word.

  5. Jesus is the perfect example of forgiving us, isn't it?

  6. And everything we did to him, he never once said, hey, I'll

  7. forgive these people, but no way am I forgiving them.

  8. They're just like they hurt me too much, they did too much

  9. evil. They just, they're worthless.

  10. No, God sees value and worth in every human being, and He died

  11. for our sins. And so how can I, how can you

  12. not be willing to forgive other people for their offenses?

  13. Forgiveness is one of the single most difficult topics in the

  14. body of Christ. Stop and think about your own

  15. struggles and the struggles of the people you know.

  16. They're almost all deeply rooted in an unwillingness to forgive.

  17. Pastor Clark will remind us today that forgiveness is

  18. central to the life of a follower of Jesus, and Jesus was

  19. our very best example. While we were yet sinners,

  20. Christ died for us. So we need to walk in the

  21. forgiveness that Jesus walked in.

  22. Now. Here's Pastor Clark in

  23. Revelation Chapter 11 with today's edition of Living Waters

    Revelation 11 chapter mention

  24. of Grace. And you look at the goal of

  25. modern healthcare today, it's it's fascinating.

  26. They want to deny the reality of death.

  27. I mean, the last thing that they want to tell you in the hospital

  28. is like there's no more hope. I mean, an honest doctor will

  29. say that they'll be upfront with you, but most of them say, hey,

  30. we can do this, we can do that. They got all these ideas with

  31. magic tricks they can pull out of their hat and maybe give you

  32. another couple years. They don't tell you like how

  33. miserable you might be or you might you don't have to be

  34. forced to be on artificial life support and that kind of stuff

  35. because it's a point on the man wants to die and after this a

  36. judgement. So my question is at times, when

  37. does medical science become a blessing and when is it becoming

  38. a curse? Because if it gets in the way of

  39. God's preordained plan, right, and begins to try to make life

  40. its own sustainer as opposed to God himself, then these poor

  41. people are are on these tubes unconscious and staying alive

  42. for a sometimes a very long time when they're already pretty much

  43. gone. It's an interesting discussion

  44. and I'm sure all of us might have some different points of

  45. view on that, but it's the medical and the new age gurus

  46. today that have this philosophy that it's just a matter of time

  47. before we conquer aging. Isn't that good news, guys that

  48. make you feel better than any? This a matter of time, brother,

  49. before we conquer aging. You're going to live to be 500?

  50. No, boy. Yeah.

  51. I have a friend. He's a doctor in Charleston and

  52. a fascinating guy who developed a good friendship, good brother

  53. and a Lord. And once in a while I go down

  54. there. He invites me to stay at his

  55. house and I do business down there.

  56. And one morning I'm getting up, having coffee there and I'm

  57. talking to his son and I see this guy, this picture of this

  58. guy on the wall, physique guys like in his early 70s.

  59. This guy's cut man. I mean, he looks like he's like

  60. a Charles Atlas of like 73 or whatever.

  61. And he, his claim to fame, doctor life is that you can have

  62. perpetual youthful longevity. If you deal with these youth

  63. hormones, you know, you get shot up.

  64. He's the guru doctor of all the Hollywood stars, all the glamour

  65. people, right? And so I'm like, looking at this

  66. picture, I'm thinking, what's the connection here with my

  67. Christian friend? Why would he have the picture of

  68. this guy on the wall? Is he like, is he into this?

  69. Is this what? And so I asked his grand.

  70. I asked his son, who is that guy?

  71. This is my grandfather. So David wakes up.

  72. I said, man, I read about that guy.

  73. I mean, what's he into? He says, Clark, my dad's he's

  74. he's a great guy, but he's like totally out of it because he

  75. thinks that he can conquer death.

  76. And in other words, instead of the body dying, it can be

  77. restored through all these metabolic changes.

  78. You know, And I said to him, I said, what's interesting, maybe,

  79. you know, for a few years, but his does he realize that

  80. eventually this isn't going to work?

  81. I mean, eventually he's going to die.

  82. I mean, it's appointed unto me and wants to die.

  83. And after this is judgment. And so the society is always

  84. trying to like, push away the inevitable.

  85. The church should be the most clear, peaceful place for us to

  86. learn about our destiny, right? What's in store for all of us

  87. now? The idea of Christianity being

  88. reconciled with death. You know God hates death.

  89. It wasn't his intention to have death.

  90. When he created us in the garden, He created us to live

  91. forever. We're the ones that changed the

  92. setup, didn't we? We took it upon ourselves to

  93. take life in our own hands, and sin and the wages of sin is

  94. death. Christ is our life and death,

  95. Christianity proclaiming it to be namely an enemy to be

  96. destroyed and not a mystery to be explained.

  97. The scriptures teach about death as being abnormal.

  98. It's not God's plan, is it? If it was his plan, there would

  99. be no resurrection. God wouldn't have come in the

  100. flesh to die and to go through what He went through for you and

  101. I if death was his plan. He's done everything he could

  102. for you and me to sustain us in eternity.

  103. Turn to John Chapter 11. This is Jesus own experience of

    John 11 chapter mention

  104. death with Lazarus. See how he feels about it.

  105. He's God in the flesh, fully God, fully man.

  106. John Chapter 11, verse 28. And when she had said these

    John 11:28

  107. things, she went her way, and secretly called Mary her sister,

  108. saying, The teacher's come and is calling to you.

  109. As soon as she heard, she quickly arose and came to him.

  110. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in place where

  111. Martha met him. And then the Jews who were with

  112. her in the house and comforting her, when they saw that Mary

  113. Rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, She's

  114. going to the tomb to weep there. And then when Mary came where

  115. Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him,

  116. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

  117. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came

  118. with her weeping, he groaned in the Spirit and he was troubled.

  119. And he said, Where have you laid him?

  120. And they said to him, Lord, come and see.

  121. Verse 35, Jesus wept. Jesus didn't say, don't worry,

  122. he's in a better place, everything's OK.

  123. Death is the final enemy, isn't it?

  124. God hates death, what it does to people, what it does to

  125. families, what it does to human existence.

  126. And the Jews said, see how he loved him.

  127. And some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of

  128. the blind also have kept this man from dying?

  129. Then Jesus again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb.

  130. You know the darkness of death, the horror of separation of

  131. family and loved ones, the waiting of the Conqueror who had

  132. not yet gone into Hades to set the captives free.

  133. This is pre death burial and resurrection that is occurring

  134. here and Jesus senses obviously the extreme intenseness of the

  135. demonic spirits and the hatred of the devil and all his demons

  136. and dark powers. And Jesus groans in himself and

  137. he comes to the tomb. It was a cave, a stone lay

  138. against it. And Jesus said, take away the

  139. stone. Martha, the sister of him who

  140. was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for

  141. he has been dead for days. Jesus said to her, Did I not say

  142. to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory

  143. of God? And then they took away the

  144. stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

  145. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that

  146. you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me.

  147. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this now

  148. that they may believe you sent me.

  149. Now when he said these things, he cried with a loud voice.

  150. Lazarus come forth and he who had died came outbound hand and

  151. foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.

  152. And Jesus said to them, lose him and let him go.

  153. Jesus wept. He doesn't again say, hey,

  154. everything's OK, he's in heaven, everything's well.

  155. He's gone from this difficult life, He's in a better place.

  156. Have you ever found yourself saying that kind of stuff?

  157. We have to see death as God sees it.

  158. Now Paul tells us to be absent the bodies, to be present with

  159. the Lord. But keep in mind the final

  160. resurrection has not occurred yet.

  161. You know, we understand today the Lord in some small degree,

  162. don't we? All of us?

  163. We have some insight of His love, His grace, and His mercy.

  164. Do we know it all? I mean, my understanding of

  165. God's love and His grace is so small compared to the way it

  166. really is because I can't grasp it in my fallen human condition.

  167. I know God's good. He loves, He's merciful, He's

  168. forgiving, but I don't know him today like I will know him one

  169. day. When Jesus said through Paul, I

  170. hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of

  171. man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.

  172. None of us can comprehend that yet, can we?

  173. We get, we're looking through a glass darkly, Paul said in First

  174. Corinthians 13. We're seeing a little bit right

  175. now, but one day the Bible said we will see him face to face,

  176. for we shall see him as he is, and we will become like him.

  177. Now when we think of Christ, it tells us in the Word that he was

  178. crucified and he was buried. He suffered.

  179. He's a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

  180. Christ lived a life of constant suffering for your sake and

  181. mine. He had joy, He had pleasure, he

  182. loved the children, he obviously loved communing with the Father,

  183. because every chance he got, he was alone with his Heavenly

  184. Father, praying and glorifying, worshiping him.

  185. But he was a man of extreme sorrow and grief, it says.

  186. He looks out over the city of Jerusalem.

  187. He looks out today in the city of southwest Greensburg.

  188. He looks into your homes, your neighborhoods, your families,

  189. this country, this world. And he still is broken.

  190. His heart is grieving because he sees the majority of people on

  191. the earth as sheep without a shepherd.

  192. He sees people trying to live life without him.

  193. And so the suffering and death is interwoven in the human

  194. experience. And the presence of 1 implies

  195. the presence of the other. Suffering and death are entwined

  196. together in Christ. When he died on the cross, his

  197. suffering wasn't removed, was it?

  198. He experienced extreme agony and pain and sorrow.

  199. Everybody abandoned him and forsook him for the most point

  200. except for his mother and John. He died alone, even to the point

  201. that he allowed himself to be separated in the greatest

  202. mystery of all. When he said, My God, my God,

  203. why have you forsaken me? He understood in a brief second

  204. what you and I deal with every day.

  205. If we don't have God in our lives, Can you imagine never,

  206. ever being disconnected from the reality of the Trinity, Father,

  207. Son, and Holy Spirit? But He became one of us, and for

  208. that brief second when He took upon Himself our sin, to atone

  209. and pay the price for all our sin, He knew what sin did.

  210. It cut us off from our Creator. And yet in His suffering He

  211. transformed death into victory, and His death in a cross becomes

  212. our victory. Without His death, there's no

  213. way into the Kingdom, is there? There's no hope for anybody

  214. apart from his death. And so we enter into the Kingdom

  215. because of what Christ has done, and that's where we receive our

  216. true healing. Our final victory is one day,

  217. the resurrection of the dead. And when you think about these

  218. things, you have to put them in the context of us being

  219. reconciled first to God before we can be resurrected in

  220. immortality and incorruption. Every one of us have to come

  221. first to God in repentance. We have to come and confess our

  222. sins to Him. We have to repent.

  223. The Bible tells us if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just

  224. to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all

  225. unrighteousness. So we ask God to forgive us, and

  226. he's faithful, isn't He to forgive us?

  227. And then we need to be reconciled with one another as

  228. human beings where there's strife and where there's angst

  229. and where there's unforgiveness and bitterness for all the

  230. things we've been through in our lives that other people maybe

  231. have caused us or we've caused them.

  232. Jesus tells us in the Lord's Prayer when we pray, forgive us

  233. our trespasses as we forgive one another, right?

  234. Later on, Jesus says if you don't forgive others their

  235. trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you of

  236. yours. So all this reconciliation, all

  237. this truth of resurrection comes out of our lives being

  238. sacrificed for the sake of others.

  239. Jesus is the perfect example of forgiving us, isn't he?

  240. And everything we did to him, he never once said, hey, I'll

  241. forgive these people, but no way am I forgiving them.

  242. They're just like, they hurt me too much.

  243. They did too much evil. They just, they're worthless.

  244. No, God sees value and worth in every human being.

  245. And he died for our sins. And so how can I, how can you

  246. not be willing to forgive other people for their offenses?

  247. When someone's on their deathbed and you have a chance to

  248. minister to them, you want to lead them in the Lord's Prayer

  249. and remind them of God's mercy, right, and his forgiveness.

  250. And you also want to ask that person to forgive you and you to

  251. forgive them and thank them for their lives and tell them you

  252. love them and then tell them goodbye.

  253. Jesus says to the guy down by the pool, Besazia Besavia.

  254. He was lame. And Jesus asked him, do you want

  255. to be made well? That's the ultimate plan of God,

  256. Wellness for every one of us, spiritual, physical, emotional,

  257. psychological wholeness throughout all eternity.

  258. And one day it will come to pass.

  259. He's restoring us right now to the likeness we had before the

  260. fall. I'm becoming a little bit more

  261. like Jesus every day. And you are too, if you're a

  262. Christian. We still got a lot of flaws, a

  263. lot of things. None of us are perfect, but

  264. we're being conformed to the image of His Son.

  265. That's what thrills me when I can look back and think about

  266. the way I used to be. And I'm certainly not what I

  267. want to be yet, but I can look back and say, thank God, I'm not

  268. like that anymore. And I can't take any credit for

  269. it, and you can't either. All you can say is God's grace,

  270. right? His mercy, the power of his Holy

  271. Spirit. There's a testimony of this guy

  272. back in the 11th century. He was a very sick man from his

  273. youth, but he had this heart. He just wanted to love God and

  274. to serve him at a young age and radically be a disciple of Jesus

  275. Christ. So they took him to this place.

  276. It was known for healing and he stayed there until his death

  277. actually. But what he prayed for when he

  278. was there, he prayed more to be content in his sickness and for

  279. health. Isn't that an interesting

  280. perspective? Sort of like Jesus.

  281. Not my will, but your will be done.

  282. One night angels appeared to him.

  283. You ever believe angels can appear all through the

  284. scripture? I remember when my uncle died.

  285. He was in Torrance Mental Hospital and he spent most of

  286. his life there with schizophrenia.

  287. He had a simple faith in Jesus and he'd always tell us.

  288. Every time we left his presence, he'd say tell Melanie and

  289. Jessica. He'd tell me my kids tell them I

  290. love them with my heart, soul and conscience and I would I was

  291. with him when he was dying of Melanoma.

  292. My mom and dad went out to take a break for a few moments and he

  293. was laying there belabored breathing very difficult.

  294. And he's he's getting ready to pass and he had no strength to

  295. so weak. And he's laying there I'll never

  296. forget on the bed and all of a sudden I see him get up like sit

  297. straight up in the bed. And first of all, it's a miracle

  298. because the guy had like no strength.

  299. He put his arms out and he had to smile on his face.

  300. And I believe that he saw the angels coming for him and he

  301. just laid back down, stop breathing.

  302. And that was it. So one night the angels appear

  303. to this man telling him he would be sick until his death, but

  304. would be healed at that very moment of his death.

  305. So he lay sick for 20 years. And yet this man worked many

  306. wonders in his life for others. During his life of suffering,

  307. people would come to him because he was a very deep Christian.

  308. He would pray, give them counsel.

  309. People would get healed. I mean, that's a wonderful, true

  310. servant of God. And I think about the testimony

  311. of this man again, reminds me of Jesus, a man of sorrows,

  312. acquainted with grief. And just at the time of his

  313. death, he got up from his bed completely healed.

  314. He prepared his grave and he entered into his rest in the

  315. Lord. To be healed of God of our sins,

  316. we must first acknowledge that we have sins before we can made

  317. be made whole. You got three groups of people

  318. here today. You have believers, unbelievers

  319. and pretenders and only God knows our hearts.

  320. But for all of us today, no matter for believers,

  321. unbelievers, or pretenders, we need to always go back to the

  322. basics of what God asked us to do, and that's to repent.

  323. I don't repent anymore to get saved.

  324. I repent now to stay close to the Lord.

  325. But if you're lost today and you've never come to Christ,

  326. your first act of repentance would be to admit your need of

  327. Christ and that you're a Sinner and that you want him to make

  328. you whole. For Jesus is the healer.

  329. He said, you will know the truth and the truth shall make you

  330. free. And we can't receive God's

  331. forgiveness until we realize our utter helplessness to change our

  332. hearts apart from God's mercy and grace.

  333. Sometimes Cindy and I'll sit and talk and maybe we're working

  334. through something on our marriage and, and one of us will

  335. will say something like, well, I'm trying, but I'm having a

  336. hard time letting this go. You ever say that to each other?

  337. And we look at each other and she'll remind me or I'll remind

  338. her. I'll say well.

  339. We can try until doomsday. We can't change our hearts, only

  340. God can. We have a willingness to change

  341. and then we ask God to do and us what we can't do for ourselves,

  342. right? And God's faithful to do that.

  343. So as we conclude here today, just some practical things that

  344. give some thought to the essential element of healing our

  345. own lives today. First of all, we're to give

  346. glory and worship to God on all things.

  347. Maybe today there's something in your life you're not happy

  348. about, you're not thankful for, you're bitter, you're upset,

  349. you're like angry, you're just, maybe it's something you've

  350. carried around for years in your life.

  351. But I can't think of a better place to give glory and worship

  352. to God. Our relationships with God and

  353. our neighbors have to be made right.

  354. You know, whatever's going on in your hearts with people,

  355. situations, make it right, guys. Go to the people and let them

  356. know you forgive them. You're not going to hold any

  357. grudge. You're not going to be bitter.

  358. This, this, let it go. And as Jesus said, love one

  359. another as I've loved you. And this is a powerful thought.

  360. When Jesus became one of us, God Incarnate in the incarnation, it

  361. is only because Christ assumed our entire nature except for our

  362. sin nature and he entered into death itself that we can be

  363. healed. Because he died and resurrected,

  364. He overcame death. The acceptance of our own death

  365. and repentance can be our cure and our own healing cause.

  366. Life comes out of death, death to self.

  367. And Jesus says, if anyone of you will follow me, let him deny

  368. himself and take up his cross daily and follow me every

  369. Sunday. We celebrate the Lord's death,

  370. don't we? Maybe you come here and you

  371. think that's sort of odd. I go to some churches, they

  372. might do it once a month or once a quarter, or, you know, why do

  373. we do this every week? The early church did it every

  374. week. Every time they gathered

  375. together, they broke bread. The signal signifying the

  376. remembrance of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

  377. Christ. And I can't think of a greater

  378. thing to do to honor our Lord when he says, as often as you do

  379. this right, eat the bread and drink the cup, you do this in

  380. remembrance of me. Then I, John, saw the holy city,

  381. New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as

  382. a bride adorn for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from

  383. heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men,

  384. and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and

  385. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will

  386. wipe away every tear from their eyes.

  387. Are you looking forward to that? There shall be no more death,

  388. nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for

  389. the former things have passed away.

  390. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things

  391. new. And he said to me, write, for

  392. these words are true and faithful.

  393. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,

  394. the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of

  395. the water of life freely to him who thirst.

  396. He who overcome shall inherit all things, and I will be his

  397. God, and he shall be my son. But the cowardly, the

  398. unbelieving, the abominable murderers, sexually immoral,

  399. sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in

  400. the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the

  401. second death. We are digging into the Book of

  402. Revelation here on Living Waters of Grace.

  403. Pastor Clark is tackling this challenging book as we try to

  404. discern the messages that are within its pages.

  405. There's so much imagery, and at times you're not always sure

  406. what's literal and what's metaphorical.

  407. At one point, there's a reference to an adulterous woman

  408. riding on a beast. And as someone else mentioned,

  409. at one point, it almost sounds like a rodeo from hell.

  410. And in actuality, it kind of is. You learn about the downfall and

  411. demise of a sinful and rebellious world, falling down

  412. in worship to someone who is the anti hero, the enemy, Satan

  413. working his insidious ways into the minds of fallen people.

  414. It's sad and it's heartbreaking, but it's a classic story of good

  415. versus evil. Thankfully, we know how this

  416. story ends. Jesus wins, Jesus reigns, and

  417. evil is conquered once and for all.

  418. We pray and trust you've received Jesus as your Savior.

  419. But if you haven't, don't wait until the events and revelation

  420. become what's happening on the streets.

  421. None of us wants you to be there at that time.

  422. Instead, we'd love for you to be with us in heaven as we

  423. celebrate the marriage supper with Jesus as his bridegroom.

  424. To get a better understanding of where we are in the Book of

  425. Revelation, to listen to any messages before or after this

  426. one, you can find them at our website,

  427. calvarychapelonline.com. That's it for today's edition,

  428. but we hope you'll want to hear Pastor Clark teach more from the

  429. Book of Revelation. It can be exciting to think

  430. about the future for believers, but it can feel a bit harrowing

  431. for those who don't believe. Come here more next time on

  432. Living Waters of Grace.