Living Waters of Grace 12.04.25

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

Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County

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

continues teaching through God's Word.

You know, it blows my mind and humbles me, but I get a chance

to talk about this Holy Savior Jesus Christ as a sinful man to

you as sinful people. God chooses to use broken

people, people whose lives have been messed up, people who have

done heinous things like Paul proclaimed himself what he had

done in the kind of life he lived.

Have you ever noticed how different people that God used

in the Bible were never the ones you would pick?

Moses had a stutter. Jacob was a con man.

Rahab was a prostitute. David was an adulterous

murderer. Paul persecuted and killed

Christians. Do you see what I mean?

God used all of those people despite their shortcomings.

Today, Pastor Clark wants you to know that God doesn't pick

people for their ability or personality, but for their

availability. Are you available to be used by

God now? Here's Pastor Clark in Acts

Acts 22 · chapter mention

Chapter 22 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

He says in verse 16, and now why are you waiting and rise and be

baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the

Lord. And what's interesting here is

that Paul is chosen. He's already saved.

He's already believed on the Lord.

It isn't baptism. It's going to wash away his

sins. The translation is a little bit

hard to understand and how it came across into the Greek, but

basically what it means is that you call upon the name of the

Lord, then you're baptized. You don't get baptized until

you're a Christian. Baptism doesn't precede the born

again experience. A born again experience occurs

first. You're washed in the blood of

Jesus, of your sin, and the water represents this cleansing,

but has no power in itself to cleanse you of your sin.

Baptism is an outward sign of what's happened inwardly.

And so now Paul is going to be baptized, and that's important.

If you've become a believer and you haven't been baptized yet,

you need to be baptized because that's obedience to the Lord.

So now it happened. When I returned to Jerusalem and

was praying in the temple, I was in a trance.

So the time between the words of Ananias and this time of being

in Jerusalem now in verse 17 was about three years.

Paul went into the desert of Arabia and he heard the Lord

speak to him and teach him about the Old Testament and all the

things that began to be part of what the New Testament would be

proclaiming as the message of the gospel that Paul had

received from the Lord himself. And so he's, he's explaining now

he's coming back after that period of time.

And when I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the

temple that I was in a trance. This idea of a trance, this is

somewhat rare and very unusual. And in regard to biblical

teaching, there's only three people in the New Testament that

had a trance. That was Apostle Paul, Apostle

Peter, and Apostle John in the Book of Revelation.

Peter, when he had the vision and the trance, when he was

sitting up on the roof praying in the hours of prayer, and he

was able to see through the vision of these animals that

would be perceived as being not good to eat because they weren't

kosher. God saying don't reject

anything. All this food is given for good.

And so Peter was released from that bondage of Judaism at the

time. So here we are, Paul's having

this experience and he senses the Lord speaking to him and he

hears this direction here. Make haste and get out of

Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony

concerning me. Now, this is prior to what was

happening right now and what we're reading about.

It sort of blows my mind that he was warned by God himself not

to, you know, get out of Jerusalem.

And Paul, I'm sure, man, I just want to be here and tell him

what what you did for me and give him my testimony.

He's saying they're not going to receive your testimony and

they're going to want to kill you.

Get out of Jerusalem. Well, guess what?

He's here in Jerusalem right now.

He's already been told several times by the Holy Spirit not to

go there, and he wants to give his testimony and he's given it

now. And you're going to see they're

not going to receive it here either.

So be encouraged, you know, whenever you're telling people

about your relationship with the Lord and they don't want to hear

it. Paul didn't have a successful

day every day of his life when he was preaching.

In this instance, it's just really, really difficult.

So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned

and beat those who believe in you.

And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed and he

was the first martyr in the New Testament.

You remember reading about that earlier in the book act.

I was also standing by consenting to his death and

guarding his clothes, the clothes of those who were

killing him. Then he said to me, depart, for

I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.

So Paul's trying to argue with the Lord there a little bit and

regard to leaving Jerusalem and said, man, I just want to tell

him, you know, like what I was like and how I was responsible

for Stevens martyrdom and all this stuff.

And the Lord again makes it real clear.

Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.

Now Paul is interesting because I just wanted to reference

something in regard to what this guy had to go through and his

life as he served the Lord and also the importance of what it

means to be an apostle in First Corinthians chapter 15 verses

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

one through 10. I want to read that briefly.

To be an actual apostle, you had to be an eyewitness of Jesus.

Personally, I don't know how in the world people call themselves

apostles today, but they do, unfortunately.

It says. Moreover, brethren, verse 1 of

chapter 15 and 1st Corinthians, I declare to you the gospel

which I preached you, which also you received, in which you

stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that

word which I preached you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received,

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

that He was buried, and that he rose again the third day

according to the Scriptures. That's the gospel.

And Paul received that from the Lord himself to proclaim to all

those people that got saved even before Paul was an apostle

through Peter's sermon in the book of the Acts, and that he

was buried. He rose again the third day

according to the Scriptures. He was seen by Cephas.

Of course he was seen by Peter. Then by the 12.

After that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom

the greater part remained to the present time, But some of fallen

asleep passed away. After that he was seen by James,

then by all the apostles. Then last of all, he was seen by

me also as one born out of due time.

So Paul physically saw Christ, experienced him and was in a

legitimate an apostle, but his humility says in verse 9 For I

am the least of the apostles, who I'm not worthy to be called

an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am.

And his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more

abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God

which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or

they, so we preached and so you believe so Paul always had his

feet grounded, no matter what his his title was, his calling,

his authority, his gifting. He knew what he was in and of

himself apart from the grace of God.

And that's something we all need to continually remember what we

are apart from the grace of God. We're sinners saved by grace.

I'm the least deserving person to be in this church preaching

to you the gospel of Christ because my life was stained by

so many horrific things. I don't want to bore you with

the details, right? But you know, it blows my mind

and humbles me that I get a chance to talk about this holy

Savior Jesus Christ as a sinful man to you as sinful people.

God chooses to use broken people, people whose lives have

been messed up, people who have done heinous things, like Paul

proclaimed himself what he had done in the kind of life he

lived. And perhaps some people might

think, well, if they knew everything about me, why would

they want to even listen to what I have to say?

Well, that's the hope that somehow God knows that whenever

we are honest about our lives and we tell people where we've

come from and what he's done, then a light goes on in their

head and they start thinking, maybe he'd do that for me.

I'm not as bad as you, Clark, so he'd accept me faster.

But that's the good news, isn't it?

Christ died for sinners, and Paul always took the credit for

being the worst of all sinners. And so they listened to him

until this word, verse 22, and they raised their voices and

said away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not

fit to live. They were uptight because

hanging out with Gentiles was the worst thing that you could

do. And so all of a sudden they cut

them off. They didn't want to hear

anything he had to say anymore about what Christ had done for

them. And you think about the

persecution and all that stuff that he went through from them

because he was telling them about persecuting Christians at

this point in time. Like despite everything he said,

at least outwardly had no meaning or impact.

Now we have no idea what God used in their lives long down

the road after this that they might have become believers

because of this testimony of Paul.

You can't always go by what you see happening outwardly.

God's always doing something inwardly, and He promises His

word won't return void. It'll accomplish the purposes

for which He sends it. They're crying out.

They're tearing off their clothes.

This big ruckus are throwing dust in the air.

The commander orders him to be brought into the barracks and

says that he should be examined under scourging so that he might

know why they shouted so against them.

They want to beat Paul now. They want to take him up into

this area. And scourging was a way of

getting the truth of confession out of someone.

They would whip with this cat of nine tails with glass and

leather and pieces of steel and take his shirt off and tie him

to post with his back tight, and they would just start lashing.

Well, let me tell you, what did you do, Paul?

What did you say? He's not going to say anything.

Maybe the first one a second all the sudden starts hurting,

bleeding agony. I'll tell you the truth.

Stop. I'll tell you the truth.

And then they lighten up on the lash a little bit because

they're getting what they want. Well, there was nothing really

for Paul called to to have to defend because he's already told

everybody what's going on here. And I think about Jesus, he was

lashed and he didn't open his mouth.

Why? Because he had nothing to

confess, did he? He's perfect.

Christ had nothing to to say. And he went through that for you

and me. And so Paul is being set up

here. And Paul then says to him in

verse 25, as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the

centurion who stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man

who is a Roman and uncondem? And they're going to freak out

here. He's a citizen of Rome.

It's illegal to take someone and scourge him as a Roman citizen.

And when the centurion heard that, he went and told the

commander, saying, take care of what you do, for this man is a

Roman. Then the commander came and said

to him, tell me, are you a Roman?

He said yes. And the commander answered with

a large sum. I obtained the citizenship.

So he's bragging he became a citizen of Rome.

You can't buy this. But he obviously bribed someone.

And Paul said, but I was born a citizen.

He's a legitimate citizen of Rome.

Then immediately those who were about to excourage him withdrew

from him. And the commander was also

afraid after he found out that he was a Roman and because he

had bound him. Now, when you think about the

apostle Paul, I want you to go to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11.

As we begin to conclude here, Second Corinthians Chapter 11,

2 Corinthians 11:22–28

verses 22 to 28, think about this and I and as I read this in

Acts 916, Ananias spoke by the Lord's leading, where the Lord

said, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for

my name's sake. Paul lived a life of sacrifice

and suffering beyond what any of us will ever experience in verse

22 suffering for Christ disheading.

Are they Hebrews? So am I are they Israelites?

So am I are they the seed of Abraham?

So am I so Paul identified with his own people group that

rejected him and rejected Christ and then he begins to talk about

what this cost him. Are they ministers of Christ?

I speak as a fool. I am more and labor's more

abundant and stripes above measure imprisons more

frequently and deaths often from the Jews.

Five times I received 40 stripes.

So he escaped the beating and the lashing that I'm reading

about an axe, but he still went through it.

It says Five times he received 40 stripes.

Can you imagine that? How in the world did that guy

survive and live through all that loss of blood and pain?

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned publicly, they stoned him and threw rocks at

him. Three times I was shipwrecked.

A night and a day I have been in the deep.

He was in the ocean for a long time, floating around in the

water, cold, dark, probably thinking about sharks and what's

going to happen and a day. I've been in the deep.

I mean, if I was like that, I'd be thinking of that, you know,

when the sharks coming, I'd be trying to move.

Now it's I'd be freaking out. He's been in journeys often, in

perils of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils of my own

countrymen, and perils of the Gentiles, and perils in the

city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the

sea, and perils among false brethren.

And weariness and toil, and sleeplessness often, and hunger

and thirst and fastenings often, and cold and nakedness beside

the other things. What comes upon me daily?

My deep concern for all the churches.

What a example of someone who's totally giving over to the Lord.

I haven't experienced any of those things, and you haven't

either. We might experience someone

laughing at us because we're Christians, or scoffing at us

because of our faith or thinking we're crazy or whatever, and we

got all upset over that, don't we?

You read this, you think? Lord, thank you for saving me

from going through this stuff. Of course, Paul couldn't have

gone through it except for the grace of God and God's strength.

So in verse 30, the next day, because he wanted to know for

certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from

his bond and commanded the chief priests and all their counsel to

appear and brought Paul down and set him before them.

You know, what's the application here today for me, for you is

the Lord speaking to you specifically about anything in

your life that needs to be taken care of?

In other words, He's been giving you some slack, time, patience,

but you still want to do what it is you want to do.

You think your decision or your way of running your life is the

best way to do it. But God has another plan.

His plan is perfect. And you're maybe in a situation

today that you're not happy about and things aren't going

the way you really would like them to go.

And there's conflict and there's obstacles and there's difficulty

because you're wanting to live life as a Christian even on your

own terms or as an unbeliever, maybe someone who hasn't come to

faith in Christ. You think that your way of

living life is OK and you don't need to make any adjustments.

You don't need to save your life's good and no big deal kind

of thing. Well, the Bible teaches us, as

does the work of the Holy Spirit, that there's a God that

all of us have to reckon with on a daily basis.

And we're either surrendering to this creator God and yielding to

what it is He's requiring of us and what it is He's calling us

to respond to, or we're blowing them off.

And there's a reason on the Turnpike why they have state

troopers. And whether you like them being

there or not, there's a reason they're there.

There's a reason why there's a medium strip in the middle of

the highway to prevent one car from crashing into the other.

There's a reason why there's speed limits, and there's

reasons why you have brakes in your car.

The reason why you have a speedometer.

It tells you where you're at and where they should slow down.

All these are pictures of God and His Spirit working in our

lives because God set up barriers and the Word of God is

the safest barrier and boundary to have in your life and around

your life. Because if you stay within the

confines of what the Bible teaches, you're going to have a

life that's going to be a lot better than trying to test the

boundaries we have these times in church.

We take the Lord's Supper and we need to think about like, well,

where am I with the boundaries of God?

What is it that I need to surrender to?

What is it that I need to yield to?

What is it that needs to change in my life and recognize that

personally, you and God privately, what it is you want

to tell him or talk to him about or surrender to him or give over

to him. And you want to do that before

you take the supper because you don't want to take the supper

when God's telling you that these are the boundaries.

And yeah, yeah, yeah, Lord, I understand.

But I'm not ready to deal with that right now.

Then don't take the supper because that would be taking it

unworthily. You want to take it with a clear

conscience. Doesn't mean you're perfect,

doesn't mean everything's resolved, but you want things to

be taken care of. So Lord, I'm going to take this

in honor of you remembering why you died, why you came, what you

did. And I want to submit and be more

surrendered to you as Lord and Savior.

And if you do that, you know God's going to work in your

life. But every time you're in church

or listen to a Bible message somewhere, somewhere on the

radio, TV, whatever you do, reading your own devotions, God

is wanting to reckon life with you and get us all to the point

of being able to reflect and say there's got to be some changes

that occur in my life. And I'm talking about myself

too. It's never a day or a Sunday or

a week that doesn't go by that God's speaking to me about going

deeper with him. Even as a pastor, I need to go

deeper with God. There's no get out of jail card

free. There's consequences to

rebellion and sin. So as we take a couple minutes,

let's think about blowing through the will of God and

passing by it, not considering it.

Maybe we can together today. Say, Lord, I don't know

everything about your will yet, but I'm willing to submit to it

if you reveal it to me through your word and show me what it is

you want me to do. I don't want to waste my life

anymore. I don't want to waste my time.

Waste your time or other people's time, my family's time,

my employer's time, I, you know, whatever relationships we have

that are needing to be dealt with, we just want to give this

to you. So Lord, just speak to us for a

couple minutes here. Lord, we need you.

Father, we thank you for the example Paul, and how real it is

as we watch him in a situation that if he wouldn't have gone to

Jerusalem, he wouldn't be in the crisis he's in right now, having

to spend the remaining years of his life and thank prisons and

and people abusing him. But Lord, we know in spite of

his mistakes, in spite of ours, you still use them for your

glory. You don't condemn us, and you

just teach us from not listening to You.

So we want to listen to you. So speak to us now.

Father, we pray. We're so thankful, Lord, that

you tell us that if we confess our sins, agree with you, You

are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness. We're thankful, Lord, that

you're for us and not against us, that You love us and Your

will is perfect and good. Or we desire to be closer to

you. We desire to be able to hear

Your voice through Your Word by Your Holy Spirit.

We desire to walk with You closely.

Help us, Lord, in our weakness. Help us, Lord, in our double

mindedness, at times hypocrisy, whatever it might be, God, we

don't want to be that way. We want to be found faithful to

you, Lord. Thanks for joining us on this

journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living

Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most

remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the

disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet

here are very different from the often confused and fearful

disciples in the Gospels. After Jesus's death and

resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy

Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their

hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering,

and they moved forward with courage to spread the gospel

despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same

Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our

hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ.

Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel

Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA

area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E

Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.

Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information or you can

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