Living Waters of Grace 10.06.25

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.

Whenever I leave here today, even though I sense His Holiness

and His presence in the midst of us gathering as a congregation,

I will sense that same holiness when I leave here.

And God is with me wherever I go and where He's with you.

Wherever you go, He dwells in us.

The temple of God is you and me. When we gather together as a

corporate group, it's it seems like it's more dynamic.

And it is because whenever two or more gathered together in His

name, He's definitely clearly there in the midst of us.

You don't need to have a fancy building, the charismatic

pastor, or even a worship band to enter into God's presence.

When Jesus died on the cross, God's presence ripped the

curtain to the Holy of Holies in two, making God's presence

accessible to anyone who calls on His name.

Pastor Clark teaches you today that God is with you always,

even when you're not around other believers.

You could still sense His presence with you even when

you're going about menial activities in your everyday

life. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7 as he continues his message.

Jewish history began with Abraham.

Next day he appears to two of them as they're fighting.

So 2 Jewish guys, they're fighting about who knows what.

And he tries to reconcile them saying men, you're a brethren,

you, you belong to each other, you're family, Why do you wrong

one another? But he who did his neighbor

wrong pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge

over us? You want to kill me as you did

the Egyptian yesterday. Then as this saying, Moses fled

and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two sons.

So Moses hears us. He's probably looking around.

I hope no one heard this. I'm getting out of here because

they catch me for this. I'm I'm in trouble.

So so he took off. It's interesting that any

messenger that God has sent and you can study throughout the Old

Testament. Isaiah was a prophet.

He was sown into Jeremiah was sown in a prison.

I mean, all the people that God had sent to bring the message

was always we somehow either martyred, rejected or just

betrayed. This is just the the history of

of the nation of Israel. I find it amazing that here God

picks his people group. They have these miracles.

They go through the the miracle of the deliverance through the

Red Sea. They have the pillar of cloud by

day to guide them. Tabernacle moved around God's

presence, the pillar of fire at night.

They had manna provided for them food.

They had quail to eat, protein, they had clothing that never

wore out. I mean, they had one miracle

after another miracle after another miracle.

And they get to the point that they aren't going to listen

anymore. They're not going to listen to

God, let alone the people that he sends to tell them about who

he is. And so Moses, then he takes off.

He fled and he became a dweller in the land of Midian.

So he he became a sheep herder in the backside of the mountain

of the deserts for 40 years, every day getting up, taking

care of the livestock. He had a wife and couple, couple

kids. That was it.

He probably every once in a while thought, I wonder how

things are going in Egypt. I wonder how my people are

going. But he knew he couldn't go back

because of the murder he had committed in verse 30.

And when 40 years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to

him in a flame of fire in a Bush in the wilderness of Mount

Sinai. So here he is, another day.

There's another mundane, boring day of doing work whatever up

there on the mountain. He probably passed that Bush at

different times. All the sudden this Bush is on

fire and he hears a voice coming from the Bush.

It's an Angel of the Lord getting his attention.

And when Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight.

And as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to

him, saying, I am the God of your father's, the God of

Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

And Moses trembled and dared not look.

Then the Lord said to him, Take your sandals off your feet, for

the place where you stand his holy ground.

I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are

in Egypt. I have heard their groanings,

and I've come down to deliver them.

And now come, and I will send you to Egypt.

So I think about all these years of people crying out to God.

It's never the fact that God doesn't hear.

It's always the timing of 1 responds to what it is the cry

is about and we can't speed that up as much as we wonder like

Lord, how come you haven't answered me yet?

How come you haven't helped me with this yet?

How come you haven't shown me yet?

It isn't that he's ignoring you, but He has a perfect time when

he's going to deliver you or help you or provide for you in a

way that you'll know it's him. It wasn't you or anybody else,

it's Him. And so God shows up in a very

powerful way and now he's Speaking of Moses.

And Moses isn't an arrogant man anymore trying to use physical

force to get people to get straight.

Now he's a timid, fearful, weak man.

And that's who the kind of people God uses.

He's not looking for people to have it all together who think

they're perfect or they're trained or they're skilled or

whatever. He chooses the weak and foolish

things of this world to confound the wise that no flesh with

glory in his presence. So Moses at this point is not

probably the best candidate from our perspective because of his

lack of pride. God maybe, or his lack of, I can

get this done or I can do it. Hey, you picked the right guy.

I'm all ready to go. Moses does everything he can.

If you remember to say, hey, not me.

I can't talk. I I can't do this.

And God's frustrated with him. Like I'm going to do this in you

and through you. It's not going to be you, Moses.

But God gave Moses a break for a little while and had Aaron, his

brother, do some of the speaking initially, until Moses began to

see that the mighty hand of God was doing all these miracles.

It wasn't him or Aaron. It was God in and through these

servants of His. And so the Lord is speaking to

him now and the people they are, this is the way they are, this

Moses whom they rejected saying, who made you a roller?

And a judge is the one God sent to be a roller and a deliverer

by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the Bush.

He brought them out after he'd shown wonders and signs in the

land of Egypt, in the Red Sea and in the wilderness 40 years.

So you see the rebellion of Israel against God starting in

verse 37. This is that Moses who said to

the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a

prophet like me from your brother, and him you shall hear.

So he's already telling him that Jesus is coming.

He's on his way, and he's the one you're going to hear.

He's the one that's the true leader.

He's the one that's the true deliverer.

He's the one that is the Messiah.

And this is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness

with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our

fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us

the 10 commandments whom our fathers would not obey, but

rejected. And in their hearts they turned

back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us.

As for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we

do not know what has becoming him.

And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the

idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

And then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of

heaven as it is written in the book of the Prophets.

Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifice during 40

years in the wilderness of House of Israel?

You also took up the Tabernacle of Molech and the Stars of your

God Rap fan images, which you made to worship.

And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

And so in this midst of God doing all these awesome miracles

and the group of people that you would think would be tuned in to

be faithful, to follow, to be loyal to, to have allegiance to,

to pay homage to, they are just blowing it off like never

happened at the bottom of Sinai. Moses is up there dealing with

God and the law and, and all the holiness and the purity of who

he is. And they're down there partying,

they're getting drunk, they're having orgies, they're

worshipping Pagan deities or they're molding idols.

I mean, it's just a horrific scene.

And whenever Moses came down off that hill, Joshua, his helper

said that there's a sound of a lot of voices down there.

What what's going on? It sounds like war closer they

got down there, they realized it wasn't a war.

It was a horrible picture of ungodliness under the holy

mount, Mount Sinai. And so God had to deal with it

and, and over 22,000 people were killed that day because of their

disobedience to the Lord. So the picture here is that

Steven is preaching and showing the nations history of how

they've always acted and they're still acting this way even

though initially they're acting like OK, Jesus is a good guy, a

prophet, whatever, you can have your religion, we'll let you go.

They are getting more and more convicted because they're

supposed to be representing to their own people group, true

religion or true faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But because of their unbelief and their rebellion, they are

going against what it is that God is endeavoring to show them.

So it continues in verse 44, our fathers is talking about God's

true Tabernacle. Our fathers had the Tabernacle

of witness in the wilderness as He appointed instructing Moses

to make it according to the pattern, and He had seen which

our fathers having received it, in turn brought with Josh, went

to the land possessed by the Gentiles.

So when Moses couldn't continue to lead the nation and God took

him up, Joshua was the next kind in the leadership there to to

lead the children of Israel. This temple, this Tabernacle was

so specifically designed. The beauty of it and all the

different parts of it and all that these things represented to

the people, this presence of God.

They were told to, you know, take care of this and move it

around. This is how God would show up

and speak with them at that particular time.

Joshua, they they take God drove out before the face of the

fathers, all these bad people in the promised land until the days

of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling

for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house.

So there's another temple built in the times of David.

However, in spite of all these historical facts and history,

the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.

As the prophet said, God never intended us to worship a

building or worship an environment that we think is

holy. The only thing that that's holy

in the environment when people gather is the holy God, and we

are partakers of that holiness. As his followers, we're to be

holy. The Bible says is he's holy.

But whenever I leave here today, even though I sense His Holiness

and his presence in the midst of us gathering as a congregation,

I will sense that same holiness when I leave here.

And God is with me wherever I go and where he's with you,

wherever you go, He dwells in us.

The temple of God is you and me. When we gather together as a

corporate group, it's it seems like it's more dynamic.

And it is because whenever two or more gathered together in his

name, he's definitely clearly there in the midst of us.

But he's also, this is really, and this is present when you're

with him in your home or wherever you are meeting with

him in prayer or the word or just talking him about whatever

is on your heart and what you need help with.

But then the prophet says, and he's, he's quoting here from

Isaiah chapter 66. However, the Most High does not

Isaiah 66 · chapter mention

thrown temples made with hands. As the prophet says, heaven is

my throne and earth is my footstool.

What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is

the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these

things comical? You know, you want to know the

throne room of God? It's the whole universe, way

beyond what we can even see or even comprehend.

The Bible says in Him we live, move and have our being.

And it's staggering that we would think that God is in a

box, in an altar. And we sit and we look at the

box, somehow thinking, you know, well, God's in that box, which

in some religious traditions represents the communion, the

Eucharist, the Lord's Supper. You can't contain God in

anything. God's omnipresent, everywhere

present, He fills all things. And so our minds, I guess before

we come to know Christ, they're real small, aren't they?

We don't have the ability to fathom a creator God because

everything's like we're looking and we got a penny in front of

our eye and the penny blocks the vision of the glory of God

because we're so narrow minded and so short sighted that we

can't see what it is that God wants us to see until we begin

to, to read the Scriptures. And then they the Bible says the

entrance of God's word gives light, it turns the lights on,

it takes the darkness away because understanding the simple

minded people like us. So Israel resists the Holy

Spirit. So they're resisting the

prophets. They're resisting the message of

Moses. You know, the brothers, the

patriarchs rejected Joseph's leadership until, you know, he

provided for them. And they then begin to know that

it was God's plan. Everything had happened.

But it's just his tendency of human nature to reject the will

of God. So then he starts really getting

into it here you stiff 5th neck and verse 51 and uncircumcised

in heart and ears. Now they were circumcised

physically, but they weren't circumcised in their heart and

the true circumcision of God is a new heart.

God says I will take out your heart of a stone and I will give

unto you a heart of flesh. And when God gives us this new

heart right, which most of us probably have in here is born

again believers. We definitely have it if we're

born again, if we're not saved yet, we don't.

We still have a heart of stone and that's what continually

resists the seed of the word of God on in our heart.

We just reject it, push it away. I did that for years.

I'm sure some of you did too and want to hear it and want to

acknowledge it and want to accept it.

But he's telling them that they're like this.

They're stiff necked and uncircumcised.

He, he told them this over 20 times in the Old Testament, that

this is how they react. You always resist the Holy

Spirit as your Father's did, and so do you.

Which of the prophets did your Father's not persecute?

And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just,

one of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who

have received the law by the direction of angels, and have

not kept it so. They have all this religion,

they have this temple, they have the Torah, the first five books

of the Bible at the time. They have the the 10

commandments, the law, and no one's keeping it, no one's doing

it. It's just showing up, going

through ritual, the ceremony, and then going out and living

life like God doesn't exist. And so when they heard these

things and these are the people, the audience that the Lord had

collected to hear. Now at this point in time, most

of the people in Jerusalem that heard the message have already

become believers. The last time we looked at the

numbers, approximately 20,000 people, I don't know how many

people were living there at that time, but it was still a small

percentage of the total population.

So God knows when he moves and he moves within a people group

and a nation, a country that there will eventually be a

number that's sort of like stabilized.

And the rest of the people that are rejecting the message would

be people that hate Jesus and hate him.

And I'm not saying there's no hope for them, but the heart of

the heart becomes the more difficult it is to put your

faith in Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said the day is

the day of salvation. If you hear his voice now, he's

softening it. Receive Him and believe in him,

because you might not get another chance if the Holy

Spirit's convicting you. And you know I need Jesus, let

him save you. Get out of the way and ask Him

for forgiveness that you want to follow him and he'll he'll save

you. It's, it's, it's that simple.

So these people are resisting. So when they hear these things,

verse 54, they're cut to the heart, meaning they're convicted

and they gnash at him with their teeth.

They're so mad and angry. You ever get really mad at

somebody just hurt your teaching.

I hate you. I hope you guys don't do that,

but you've probably done that before.

The Bible talks about weeping and gnashing of teeth being

symbolic of the consequences of what it's going to be like being

in hell will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But he being full of the Holy Spirit, Steven never missed a

beat. He was under the control and

influence of the Holy Spirit. He wasn't going to back off or

not tell these people the truth. He was a true faithful witness.

He gazes into heaven. I don't know if he had some kind

of vision or this is something that he was able to see and no

one else was able to see. And he saw the glory of God and

Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Jesus is standing there ready to receive his first martyr that's

given his life for the sake of the gospel.

Jesus already gave his life for you and me.

And Stephen has the privilege of being the first human being to

give his life for Christ and, and Christ is rooting for us all

the time. He's our biggest fan, isn't he?

Like when we walk our in our lives and do things according to

his will, he's cheering you on. You're with me.

You're my family, you're my son, you're my daughter.

I rejoice in what you're doing. I see your suffering.

I know it's hard, I know it's difficult, but it's going to be

worth it. Just keep, keep on keeping on.

Like it says in First Corinthians 1558, be steadfast

and movable, always abiding and to work for the Lord as much as

you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

It's never a waste of time. And so he sees the Lord Jesus

standing there at the right hand of God, says, look, I see the

heavens open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of

God. Then they cried out with a loud

voice. They stopped their ears and they

ran at him with 1 accord and they cast him out of the city.

And the way they do this, they put him in some kind of pit and

they had all these rules of how many feet you had to be away

until they, you know, repented or, you know, said, I'm not

going to do this anymore. There was no opportunity for any

of this. Stephen was committed and he

wasn't changing his mind. They cast him out and they stone

him, and the witness laid down their clothes at the feet of a

young man named Saul. So here's the apostle Paul

before he's saved. And keep your in your mind, you

might know someone in your life. Oh, that person's never going to

be a believer. They're so wicked, they're so

ungodly, they're so Pagan, they're so hateful.

Pray for them. Be a light like Stephen was.

Stephen's countenance shine like an Angel.

Paul had to observe all this, right?

Who knows the background in all the details of when Paul

eventually became a believer, But Stephen had an impact on

Paul as he's had an impact on everybody that's ever read the

story and all those who were there.

And so they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, saying, Lord

Jesus, receive my spirit. Remember the Lord Jesus when he

died on a cross into your hands I commit my spirit.

Stephen's doing the same thing, committing a spirit to the Lord.

He knelt down and he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not

charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he

fell asleep. What a man of God, What a loving

man, loving his enemies. Jesus says love those who hate

you, pray for those who hate you, love those who hate you,

pray for those who despitefully use you, and say all manner of

evil about me for my namesake. Don't you want to be like Jesus?

Don't you want to be like Stephen?

I know I do, and I can't do it in my own strength and neither

can you. That as the Holy Spirit works in

US and the grace of God fills us with the Spirit of God, we can

have lives that testify like this.

And as he said, like Jesus said, Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. What a profound thing to say

when they were surely determined and focused and knew why they

wanted to get rid of Jesus. But Jesus and his grace said,

forgive them. So they don't know what they do.

And Stephen says do not charge them with this sin.

It says in chapter 8, there's a few verses now Saul was

consenting to his death. So the apostle Paul's like, kill

this guy, throw the stones at him.

Let's get rid of him, silence him.

He's coming against the great institution of Judaism in the in

the nation of Jerusalem. And so we got to get rid of him.

And so Saul was there pushing this stuff.

And at that time a great persecution arose against the

church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered.

They were pushed out of Jerusalem, the comfort zone, and

they ended up in the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the

apostles and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and they

made great lamentation over him. They were broken hearted over

this man's death. As for Saul, this is what he did

until the Lord got a hold of him.

He made havoc of the church. He came in and caused problems

everywhere he went. He hated Christians, he entered

every house, and he drag men and women out into prison,

committing them to prison because of their faith in the

Lord Jesus. What blows me my mind about the

Bible? You go through a chapter like

that and you got the whole history, don't you, in one

chapter and it's so clear, it's so simple to understand.

So if you're here today and you're like those people wanting

to throw stones, put the stone down and say, Lord, I get it, I

need you. I believe this, I see it

documented in history. This is historical fact.

This isn't make believe stuff. This is true.

And whenever we come to the Lord with open hearts and soft hearts

and ask him and speak to him in prayer, He listens, He'll give

you a sense of his presence. He'll give you a sense of him

being near to you. And you'll begin to see life

change and, and become completely different than it is

now. Living without God.

God's created us to live with him.

He'd never created us to live without Him.

And really, we can't live without him.

The way things are happening in the world right now and what

could potentially be coming down, you're going to need the

Lord. I'm going to need the Lord of

ways that we never thought we needed him before until all we

have is him, right? And he'll protect us, He'll

stabilize us. And the best thing that is in

store for us is that we're going to see this one who stood up,

Stephen, and we're going to walk up into his presence that day as

his kids. And we're going to hear by his

grades and see a smile on his face.

And he's going to hug us and say, well done, good and

faithful servant, enter into the joy of the world.

We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living

Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through

the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the

history of the early church immediately after Jesus's

ascension. It gives us a front row seat to

how the Gospel began to move outwards, starting in Jerusalem

and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire.

In just three decades, a small group of frightened ordinary

believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement that

transformed the known world. Acts is not just a history

lesson. It's a reminder of what God can

do when His people are surrendered, obedient, and

filled with the Holy Spirit. Their perseverance still

inspires us today. May we follow their example and

live faithfully for Christ in our own time.

We hope today's message encouraged you.

Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel,

Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA

area, we'd love to have you join us in person.

Our Sunday service begins at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.

Unit 6B. Be sure to visit

calvarychapelonline.com to confirm times and learn more.

If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM

on the new 91.7 frequency. Please pray about supporting

this outreach. Gifts can be sent to Grace FM,

PO Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.

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Thank you for tuning in and spending this time in God's

Word. Be sure to join us again for

Living Waters of Grace.