Living Waters of Grace 10.29.25

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

Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,

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

continues teaching through God's Word.

The good news is a later on there was reconciliation between

Paul and John and so the good news is that they didn't stay

apart from one another forever. And God always wants Christians

and family and one another to be reconciled to one another.

The message of the gospel is reconciliation to God, but how

many of us are waiting for reconciliation to family or

friends or relatives or Co workers or or loved ones that

for whatever reason don't want to be around us or mad at us or

upset about something? Having a little spat with

someone is something we all go through, right?

Even the followers of Jesus had their moments of disagreement

among one another. But things get tricky when you

choose not to make amends. Have you thought about just how

crucial this really is? The Bible focuses on bringing

you and God back together. Hey, what's holding you back

from making amends with your friend?

Today, Pastor Clark shares some thoughts on the power of

reconciliation and the beauty of forgiveness.

Now here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 13 with

Acts 13 · chapter mention

today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

The book of the Acts is a study of the early church and the work

of the Holy Spirit and the lives of those who serve the Lord and

those who have become believers as a result of hearing hearing

the Gospel. Their lives were changed through

the work of the Holy Spirit and the day of Pentecost.

And so today we're going to sort of review a little bit.

It's been a while, like I say, of what I covered last time I

was with you in the book of the Acts, Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And we're going to pick things up in the 13th verse as we

continue on in this particular chapter.

Now, this is Paul's first sermon publicly that is recorded in the

Bible. He had had messages up until

this point, but this is the one that he began to develop his

ministry with. And Paul, if you remember, was

present when Stephen, the first martyr, was giving his message

in the book of the Acts, in Acts Chapter 7, where he was

Acts 7 · chapter mention

educating the Jewish people on what the Lord had done for the

nation of Israel from the beginning of time.

And Paul was actually there at that time, not as a Christian,

but as someone who persecuted Christians.

He hated the faith of Christianity.

And so he eventually was responsible for having Stephen

stoned and martyred. So it's interesting.

Here's a guy that heard a lot of this before, before he was a

believer. And now he's a believer.

And he's able to also, because of being saved now and being

called by God and having the Holy Spirit in him, he's able

now to communicate this to other people.

And that's what's powerful about the word.

It's a seed that's planted in all of our lives and sometimes

we think, man, I don't really get this or I don't understand

it the way I would like to, but be encouraged because God, when

he plants a seed, he begins to water it and he begins to work

with it. So eventually it brings forth a

harvest in all of our lives. Doesn't matter.

People that you know, you've talked to about the Lord and

given him the word and told him about the Bible and the

Scriptures, and they just like don't think about it or don't

respond to it. Doesn't mean they won't

eventually. So keep praying for the seed

that's planted in the heart of the people.

You sow the word of God into their lives.

We're going to look at the verse 13 through 15 initially and just

work our way through this chapter.

Now, when Paul and his party had set sail from Paphos, they came

to Purga and Pamphylia and John, departing from them, returned to

Jerusalem. So we we spoke briefly about

this fallout between the apostle Paul and John Mark.

John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas.

And for some reason there was some disconnect between these

two guys. We'll learn a little bit more

about it in the 15th chapter. But he was important to them in

this missionary journey. This was the first missionary

journey that the church had begun to do after Pentecost.

Initially it was in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, primarily,

where the gospel had gone and where people had become

Christians. Now it's going into the

uttermost parts of the earth. And so Paul is legitimately and

Barnabas, the first missionary sent out from the church.

They're learning as they go along.

So they have a team. And in any kind of ministry, you

have a team. You cannot do anything by

yourself when you're called by God.

You need Co laborers. You need people that will help

and encourage and pray and have the same vision, the same focus,

or you're just not going to be able to make it.

And so you get discouraged at times in life, You get

discouraged sometimes in the ministry.

And so the need to have brothers and sisters around you when

you're doing what you're doing is it gives you the ability to

keep on doing what you're doing. Because if you aren't having

help and encouragement and prayers, you just fade out.

You just get discouraged. Sometimes you just don't want to

do it. So John Mark, he was important

to them and it doesn't give all the details of why he decided to

back out. It could have been some conflict

because Barnabas used to be sort of the guy that was leading it.

And now Paul is the the primary focus along with Barnabas.

Maybe he was intimidated by what they were going to face.

He just saw some demonic activity with the sorcerer.

They were going into some regions where there was some

real Pagan worship and some danger.

Maybe he was just afraid of getting hurt or something.

We don't know. The good news is a later on

there was reconciliation between Paul and John.

And so the good news is that they didn't stay apart from one

another forever. And God always wants Christians

and family and one another to be reconciled to one another.

The message of the gospel is reconciliation to God.

But how many of us are waiting for reconciliation with family

or friends or relatives or coworkers or or loved ones that

for whatever reason don't want to be around us or mad at us or

upset about something? Don't ever let your heart get

hard because if it gets hard, then God can't do that work of

re establishing friendships and community and love.

And so it continues though after John Mark departed to go back to

Jerusalem, It says that when they departed from Purga, they

came to Antioch and Pasidia and went into the synagogue on the

Sabbath day and sat down. So is as devastating, I'm sure,

as it was for John Mark to leave them.

They didn't say, well, we're going to quit now.

We're not going to do this anymore.

We were a team and the team isn't together like it once was,

and so we can't do this anymore. We're just going to stop doing

it. No, this showed the perseverance

and the calling and the greatness of God upon Paul and

Barnabas's life. I'm sure they were broken

hearted over this, upset, whatever, but they focused on

what they needed to do. And So what was interesting in

those days, you didn't have a lot of churches like you do now

all around the world. There was churches in the

regions where they had planted churches, but they're in a

completely different area now. There is no New Testament church

yet in this particular place of Antioch or Presidia.

This is an Antioch of Syria. This is a different Antioch.

And so where they would go to have fellowship, if you may, or

communion or, you know, talk about the things of God, they

would go to the synagogue. And what was interesting in

those days is if you were a learned person in regard to the

Old Testament, because the New Testament wasn't written yet,

you would be invited to speak within the synagogue if you had

some degree of knowledge and ability to communicate the

things of God. And so they came, This was a

Saturday, the Sabbath day, and they sat down.

And So what they would do in their liturgy as a Jewish

followers of Elohim or Jehovah, they would read the law and the

prophets every every Saturday they would read the law and the

prophets. It was predictable what they

did. They did the same way all the

time. So you think about all these

people that came to synagogue and there was quite a few people

that did. They were hearing the

testimonies of what the law said regarding God's holiness and

man's ability to be righteous unless they followed the law

100%. The other thing was the prophets

were given to foretell and prophecy regarding the coming of

their Messiah. So they were, they weren't

ignorant. They were aware of the

Scriptures. But for some reason what they're

going to hear today in the synagogue is something they

never heard before and it's going to rock their world.

They're going to hear about justification by faith alone, by

grace alone and Christ alone. They had never heard anything

like that before, nor did Paul until he became a believer,

right? And when we heard it and we

became believers, our lives have been completely transformed.

I'll never be the the same again.

So it says after this they read the law and the prophets, the

rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying men and brethren, if

you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

So they were given the privilege to be able to stand up and

communicate the good news. And what an opportunity.

I'm sure Paul's sitting on the edge of his seat.

I can't wait to tell these people the good news.

They've been hearing bad news their whole life that they got

to be perfect and no one could be perfect.

None of us could be perfect. There's none that are righteous,

is there? There's not one of us that are

righteous apart from the grace of God.

So in verse 16 we go now here then Paul stood up and motioning

with his hand said, men of Israel and you who fear God

listen. So in this group of people there

won't only Jewish people, but there was God fears and this was

the Gentiles. They were proselytes of Judaism

at the time. They were intrigued with

historical truth about the Creator, but they didn't have

all the pieces, nor did the Jewish people.

So Paul's going to begin to put the puzzle together for them.

Verse 17, The God of this people, Israel, chose our

fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in

the land of Egypt. With an uplifted arm, He brought

them out of it. So we know in the beginning when

Moses was chosen to be the deliverer, he was able to be

called by God the raise up his staff to have that Red Sea open

up and for the children of Israel to be delivered from the

bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. So he, we all know the history,

He brought Israel out through the sea away from the bondage of

Pharaoh in Egypt. And verse 18 now for a time

about 40 years, he put up with their way in the wilderness.

And we know how crazy it was and how they acted.

After all these miracles of what God had done, how they began to

complain and forget about the goodness of God and his miracle

working hand. They began to complain about all

kinds of things. Not enough water, not good food,

whatever. God provided mana, he provided

rock water out of the rock. Miraculously, it still wasn't

good enough for them. And so God was patient. 40

years. He put up with their ways in the

wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven

nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to

them by allotment. So they're being reminded as

Paul's talking about all the things they've heard and been

taught for years in the synagogue through the Torah,

through the law and the prophets.

And so they're probably thinking, well, you know, we

know all this. What's the point here?

Why is he? Why is he telling us this?

Again, He's reviewing to them what God has done.

No man has done any of this. God has done this all himself

for their nation because he loved them. 19 refers obviously

to Joshua when he took over for Moses and went in and took care

of Jericho and set the people free in the nation to be able to

go in and get the land that God had promised them.

Prophetically it says he distributed their land to them

by allotment. So just like Stevens message in

Acts 7, Paul had witnessed these things themselves by being a

Jewish follower of God for years.

He knew the history of the nation of Israel because he was

obviously a Jew. And now he's a born again

Christian. And so we think of the

opportunity that only God can give us to speak His Word.

At any given time. We might have plans to want to

have an opportunity to tell someone about what the Lord's

done for us. But only God can open up the

doors in the perfect timing to give us that opportunity and

that audience to be able to declare the gospel to people.

And we need to pray for the Lord to give U.S.

Open doors so that we might be able to do what it is that God's

called us to do, as Paul and Barnabas are doing here.

And verse 20. After that he continues as to

what God has done. And the brothers who teach on

Wednesday night regarding the Old Testament, we've been

through all these different books of the Bible in the Old

Testament, given the history of Israel.

And it says he gave them judges for about 450 years to sort of

control and keep things on track.

So they didn't get so crazy, but they had good judges and they

had bad judges. And then they did that until

Samuel the prophet was lifted up and he was a good leader.

And after that they asked for king.

So God gave them Saul, who ended up being a bad leader and the

son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.

And when he had removed him, he raised up for them.

David is king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I found

David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who would do

my all my will. David is pictured here in a way

of someone who is beginning to lay the foundations of what it's

going to look like when Christ becomes the ruling king and

reigning king during the millennial Kingdom that we're

all looking forward to that thousand year reign that Christ

will rule and reign on the earth.

David was a prototype in some ways, and his life was

indicative of the Messiah that was to come out of his own seed

and his loins. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would

eventually be born. And so all this foundation that

God's laying here through Paul's teaching is to remind them that

there's a point to everything God's done since the beginning

of time, and that point was to eventually bring a Savior named

Jesus for the whole world. This is not Jewish people, but

also Gentile people. And so David, we know his

history from when he was a young man and dealt with the giant

Goliath and how he grew up and how he loved God and wrote many

of the Psalms that we also know his downfall and failing with

Bathsheba. And yet God forgave David for

his sin when David repented. And David wrote that beautiful

51st Psalm to remind us of God's goodness, that when we're broken

over the mistakes we've made in our lives or the tragedies of

the difficulties that we've been through.

Bible says that God is near to the broken hearted and those who

have a contrite heart. Aren't you glad he's that way?

People maybe will lose patience with you.

People will perhaps give up on you or walk away from you and

leave you. But Christ promises he will

never leave us or forsake us. And he says if we seek Him with

all of our heart will find him there.

There's no one like the Lord. And that's 51st Psalm in

reference to David's downfall is probably one of the most

beautiful things that you could possibly read on the mercy of

God, where David prayed to the Lord.

Take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of my salvation.

And many of us have been through hard times in life, maybe not

sinning like David, but maybe other things have happened to us

and we've lost our joy. We've lost the sense of God's

intervention in our life and remembering his patience and His

kindness and how he is always willing to come and bring us

back to himself, no matter where we've been or what we've done or

what we've personally gone through there.

There's no one that will be like that to you in this world, in

this life, but Jesus. And so he says to the Lord in

his prayer, create in me a clean heart, O God, which is what we

all need, clean hearts. And we can't create that in

ourselves. That only can be done by the

work of God's Spirit. Creating me a clean heart of God

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Give me this kind of temperament, Lord, that it's

stable. It's not up and down all the

time and praising God and complaining, you know, it's just

like this calm walk of perseverance and trust in God, a

steadfast spirit. And then he says, then I'll

teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted

to you. The work of God through David's

life really became impactful after he had fallen and gotten

right with God again. And so when we study the Bible

and we study these truths of the New Testament, the Old

Testament, each of us have to think, OK, where am I right now

with these teachings I'm hearing?

What does this have to do with my life right now or where I'm

at, or what I'm thinking or what I'm struggling with?

It has everything to do with our own lives.

Because as we read the story of God's love and his redemption,

his mercy, his patience, it should speak to us that if God's

been this way to Israel all these years, he's certainly the

same to us. Even as believers that struggle

at times that get depressed or get discouraged or get hopeless

or make mistakes or do stupid things.

God is not looking for perfect people.

He's always looking for a broken people that he can heal and

restore and renew and give hope to again, over and over and over

again. And then he says in verse 23

from this man's seed. And that's David according to

the promise God raised up for Israel as Savior Jesus.

So the seed that was planted through the relationship that

David had with his wife and carried on down through

generations eventually brought forth this Messiah named Jesus.

It was prophesized and verse 24 after John, this is referring to

John the Baptist had first preached before his coming, the

baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

And as John was finishing his course, he said, Who do you

think I am? Of course, people were, you

know, adoring John the Baptist. He was a strange guy.

He, he wore like weird clothing. He ate locusts and wild honey.

He was out there man, look like a wild man.

But yet his message was so dynamic and it compelled

countless thousands of people to come and listen to the message

of repentance. So all these people are coming,

they're under conviction and they're repenting of their sin

and they're getting prepared for the Messiah because John was the

one that was to prepare the way of the Lord.

But John had a check here with these people.

He said, who do you think I am? They're lifting them up and

thinking he's great. He says I am not he.

But behold, there comes one after me, the sandals at whose

feet I'm not worthy to lose. So.

So John the Baptist was a very humble man, wasn't he?

Which is what all we should be as servants of the Lord.

Who are we? We're just people that have been

given the privilege to talk about what he's done.

But we're not worthy to lose the sandals of Jesus either, are we?

But he chooses to use us. That's the remarkable thing of

of God's grace. He uses ordinary people.

And so he, he continues in this, this, this, the same emphasis of

Paul that Stephen gave in his message, message that God has

this love and concern and his hand upon the nation of Israel.

To this day. God has not given up on Israel.

There's a remnant there that will be very apparent in the

last days during the Tribulation period, where many Jewish people

will come to recognize that He's Messiah and they'll be martyred

for their faith. And those who are alive at the

second coming, the Bible says they'll see him.

Every eye will see him when he comes back, coming through the

clouds and into the strata of the earth and eventually landing

on the Mount of Olives. It says every eye will see him,

and it says they will look up and see him whom they've

pierced, and it'll break their hearts recognizing that they had

missed him and that He truly is their Messiah.

The focus of these things that we're looking at here are

emphasizing what God's done, the focus on what God does. 11 times

that God chose the fathers. He made the people great.

He led them out of Egypt. He put up with them in the

wilderness. He destined 7 nations in the

land to have their own space in Canaan.

He gave them land as an inheritance.

God gave them judges, he gave them Saul.

He raised up David. God brought Israel a savior

Jesus as he promised and a prophet John who said he wasn't

worthy. This remarkable.

And so we continue in verse 26, men and brethren, this is Paul

again preaching sons of the family of Abraham.

They were proud that they were descendants of Abraham.

And you remember what Paul said, that God could raise up the

stones to give praise to God. There was nothing special in the

sense or entitlement of being a child of Abraham.

It didn't automatically guarantee you salvation unless

you believe so. There was really no distinction

between a Jewish person and a Gentile person in God's eyes.

He came first to his own. The Bible says his own received

him not, but his picture and his vision of humanity was to be a

savior for the whole world and all people.

Thank you for listening to this edition of Living Waters of

Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching us

about the book of Acts in this series.

Acts is a powerful and unique part of Scripture, not just

because it records the spread of the gospel geographically from

Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but also culturally.

Acts shows us how the message of Jesus moved beyond its Jewish

roots and began to reach the Gentile world.

What started with Peter leading a small group in the Upper Room

became a global movement with Paul taking the gospel to

cities, synagogues, and marketplaces across the Roman

Empire. Acts captures this vital

transition and reminds us that the good news of Jesus is for

all people in every place. May we be inspired to carry that

same gospel boldly into our world today.

Living Waters of Grace comes to you from Calvary Chapel,

Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA

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