Living Waters of Grace 10.01.25

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 Lord says there's neither Jew nor Greek, nor bond or

freeman or male or female. We've all been made to drink

that same spiritual drink from God's economy and the way he

views things. He doesn't look at ethnic

issues, he doesn't look at racial issues, he doesn't look

at financial issues, he doesn't choose people based upon some

place of birth. He doesn't see anybody as being

more important than someone else, right.

We're all the same as people. In today's world, there are so

many things that divide us from one another.

Race, gender, political ideology, or even favorite

sports teams can drive wedges between people if we allow them

to. But Pastor Clark teaches us

today that in the eyes of God, all of us are equal.

All of us have sinned and are in need of a Savior.

Jesus didn't come to this earth to die for one group of people.

He came to offer salvation to any who would call on him.

The early church was diverse because it was open to everyone.

Now here's Pastor Clark in the book of Acts Chapter 5 with

Acts 5 · chapter mention

today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

So we are in the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles could

be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit as well, because it is

about the work of God's Holy Spirit in the church, the early

church. So the early church, when we

study this in Acts, this is all new.

Everything that we're studying is new to the people who became

believers at Pentecost and when God put his church together, the

New Testament church, there was no programs, very little

politics, no agenda. It was just people loving Jesus

and hanging out together and worshipping God.

They didn't really have buildings like we have nowadays,

church buildings at that time. They didn't have much of an

organizational chart in regard to how ministry flows within the

four walls of a a church community.

So everything is organic, everything is developing,

everything is brand new. I'm going to finish reading the

verses in chapter 5 starting at 40 leading into chapter 6.

This is after Gamaliel told the leaders of the empire at the

time not to hassle the Christians.

If it's of if it's of man, it'll fall apart.

If it's of God, no one can stop it.

And obviously it is of God because no one has stopped it in

over 2000 years. But it says, And they agreed

with him. And when they had called for the

apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not

speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

So they departed from the presence of the council,

rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his

name. And daily in the temple and in

every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as

the Christ. So they weren't worried about

being embarrassed or ridiculed or persecuted or betrayed.

And in regard to the nation, they love serving the Lord.

And they weren't self-centered, they were other centered.

They were Christ centered and they were praising God that they

had an opportunity to suffer difficulty for their faith,

something that we can learn from.

And they worshipped every day. It wasn't just like they waited

till Wednesday or Sunday or some other day.

These people had such a desire to be in the Word and be

together as Christians that they they gathered whenever they

could in homes and they were always teaching one another

about the things of God and preaching the gospel to people

that never heard or needed to know who Jesus was.

This a wonderful move of of God's spirit.

It was approximately 20,000 people that were part of this

New Testament church at this time.

It was developing, it was growing and eventually there'd

be persecution and the church would be scattered and they

would be then meeting primarily in smaller homes, groups, that

kind of stuff. God wasn't interested in mega

churches back then. He was interested in real unity

and Christians coming together, knowing each other, loving each

other, praying for one another wasn't the size of the of the of

the organization. It was the life that was in the

community of faith at the time that impacted everyone that was

exposed to this New Testament church.

So we we we begin in chapter 6 here and the subtitle says 7

chosen to serve in any church and it happened in the early

church. There's always need for help and

they always say there's an 8020 roll, 20% to 80% of the work and

organizations or ministries or whatever.

We're fortunate here. There's a much higher percentage

of participation of help and service because of your heart's

desired and want to serve the Lord.

And we're very grateful for that.

That's what makes the church alive.

When people get involved with their passion and their

ministries and they're using their gifts.

And now in these days and those days when the number of the

disciples. This is Acts chapter 6, verse 1

Acts 6:1

was multiplying. There arose A complaint against

the Hebrews by the Hellenist because their widows were

neglected in the daily distribution.

So the Jewish institution, the synagogue, the temple, they did

try to help take care of widows and orphans.

This is not something new. But now there's this breakdown

in relationship between Christians and the legalists of

the Jewish religion. And so the ministry is growing,

things are happening, and there's this complaint that's

beginning to occur because they need more help now.

These Hebrews were the people that were more, I guess,

organized within the community of Jerusalem and they were law

keepers and they were into, you know, their traditions and that

kind of stuff. The hell on us were Jewish

people, but they were impacted by Greek culture.

And so they were sort of looked out upon by the Hebrews.

But nonetheless, they were two communities of Jewish people.

These people had been scattered during the dysphoria and the

difficulties of of the nation of Israel, what they've been

through since the beginning of time as a nation.

So there's this this issue that things are falling through to

cracks and the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and

said it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and

serve tables. So what's the solution to the

problem? And any given church is always

something that someone maybe is upset about or they don't like

something or they're frustrated or whatever.

Instead of coming and making it known to the leadership, Lots of

times people begin this behind the scenes, backbiting,

murmuring, complaining, backstabbing, whatever.

They did this or do you know what he did or what she did or

whatever. And that stuff never solves

anything, right? But lots of times things can be

taken care of quite easily if someone just goes and says, hey,

have you ever thought about this?

This isn't really working really well right now.

And have you ever thought about trying this or this idea,

whatever. And we as leaders are open to

whatever ideas you guys have. Many times, if they're good

ideas and they're from the Lord, we want to see them implemented.

If we're missing something or we're not doing something right,

we want to be told about that so we can correct it.

Not the people get mad and they leave or they say they don't

listen or whatever. That's not the way we want to

roll here. But what was happening here is

that they realize the apostles, I can't do all this.

There's twelve of them and they cannot handle all this group of

20,000 approximately people and do it well.

And so they said, look, we have to study and we have to pray so

that whenever we come and teach the people, we have something of

substance to tell them. But if we're too busy handling

all the details of the church, then we're not going to be

prepared to tell the people the things of God from the word of

God. They were stretched and they

realized that they couldn't do this themselves.

They were asking for help. So they said it isn't a good

idea that we should leave what we're supposed to be doing,

teaching the word of God. And and when they say serving

tables, it doesn't mean like giving people food, wiping them

off, get the dishes, all that. It's just being a servant in all

these different other capacities of what happens when churches

begin to grow and there's needs. So it says.

Therefore, brethren in verse 3, seek out from among you 7 men of

good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we

may appoint over this business, but we will give ourselves

continually to prayer in the ministry of the word.

So what's beautiful about this? It got the congregation involved

like you guys. You should know the people that

come to Calvary you, you, you talk to them all the time.

If we have need for help, you might suggest to Pastor Lewis or

one of the elders, Hey, you know this, this guy or this woman

they're they're really gifted. They got a real love for God.

Have you ever thought about, you know, we need have a need for

this? And they were telling me they'd

like to do whatever. I mean, that's how you get the

right people in the right place. So, you know, they, they made

suggestions in regard to what was happening.

So the saying, please, the whole multitude.

So the church was in unity. They weren't disunity.

They were connected and they they understood we're going to

fix this. We're going to make it right.

And so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and the Holy

Spirit, and Philip and Procurius and Nicanor and Theemon and par

Menas, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set

before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they

laid hands on them. So what's interesting is the

predominant number of people in this church at the time were

Hebrew Christians. The Hellenists were a smaller

percentage of the group, but a lot of people in this instance

that were called to serve were from that Hellenist group, which

is I find sort of interesting, you know, the Greek influence.

And so the Lord says there's neither Jew nor Greek or Bond or

Freeman or male or female. We've all been made to drink

that same spiritual drink from God's economy and the way he

views things. He doesn't look at ethnic

issues, He doesn't look at racial issues.

He doesn't look at financial issues.

He doesn't choose people based upon some place of birth.

He doesn't see anybody as being more important than someone

else, right? We're all the same as people.

And so whenever you have a, a church community, you don't have

preference over one person or group or background.

We need to be LED of the Holy Spirit.

We need to do what God's telling us to do, not what the culture

maybe is trying to push us to do or what's politically correct,

you know, that term and that kind of stuff.

We want God to raise up who he wants to raise up and for him to

take down who he needs to take down.

And so they, they got the support of the people.

It wasn't a congregational role kind of thing or anything.

It was the body of Christ being alive enough to, you know, be

together in regard to people that they thought would be

really good in this capacity. And so there was no

disagreement. And so whenever they got these

guys together, these seven, they ordained them.

And ordained ordination is, is biblical.

It's the laying on of hands to the person that's going to do a

particular ministry in the church, and that person is

codified or recognized by God's calling.

And the laying on of hands isn't anything powerful from the

person who's doing the laying on of hands.

It's a picture of God laying his hands on them and we're just

agreeing with what it is that God's already done in a person's

life. And so when they did that, this

is the exciting thing. Verse 7, they got it together.

They got it straightened out. Then the word of God spread and

the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.

And a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

So what was cool about this is the apostles were released from

the responsibility of having to deal with the the widow

situation. They were able to concentrate on

what it was that they were called to do and then they were

able to do it effectively. And the word went out and the

church kept growing. It kept growing.

It says it multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.

And not only the people in the streets we're hearing, but the

high-ranking officials that were serving in the synagogue.

The priests were getting saved too, which is awesome, right?

Just a move of God, a real revival.

And so Stephen, we're going to concentrate on him now.

The next Stephen was one of the seven.

He was not an apostle, but he was a man of God filled with the

Holy Spirit. So God doesn't differentiate in

regard to the communication of the Word.

A man of God is a man of God. You know, the title doesn't not

make the man the man of God. It's not the pastor or the elder

or the Deacon. It's you and me as men were

either given over to serve God and to be used by God and to use

our gifts that God's given us, or we just sit around and don't

do anything right in our church. You know, we want to see more

and more men teaching the word of God because if they're

learning to teach the word of God, they're going to help the

church grow, but they're also going to be used by the Lord in

their own homes and their family and their own sphere of

influence as as well as the church.

And that Wednesday night we have other guys beside pastors that

are teaching the word and they're this is competent and

gifted and a blessing to us is, is, is the pastors.

We don't hold one person up higher than the other.

It's the word of God that's doing the work, right.

The word of God communicated to the people of God is what

changes the the hearts of of the people of God.

So Stephen is a man of faith. It says here in verse 8, Stephen

full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among

the people. And then you might say, well, I

thought any of the apostles could do that.

Well, back in the early church days, God's miraculous power was

being poured out through men and women in very different kind of

circumstances. It wasn't, excuse me, only an

Apostolic kind of authority that would have the ability to do

these things. I mean, Stevens picked to be and

there was no deacons at this time.

Later on, the word develop Deacon means servant.

In the book of Timothy, it tells about the qualifications of

leaders in the church, but they weren't so much at this

particular point in time positioned as deacons.

They were just servants, right. So Steven, he's doing these

ministries and he's called to help with the widows, but he, he

didn't say, well, well, I guess I'm just like a down and out guy

and I'm, I'm not good enough to do anything else.

So I'll help these widows and I'll, you know, no, he was a man

of God. So he had a lot of spiritual

gifts. He was able to do a lot of

different things. He wasn't just doing one thing

right. He was able to be used by the

Lord. And then in verse 9, there arose

some from what is called the synagogue of the freeman

Sirenians, Alexandrians and those from Silesia and Asia

disputing with Stephen. They began to argue with him

because of his evangelistic zeal and his preaching of of Christ.

Cilicia is the region where the apostle Paul was serving with

the Sanhedrin at the time. He was called Saul of Tarsus and

we'll study later on in the book of the Acts how he became born

again. But he was a persecutor of

Christians. And so it says that and when

they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which

he spoke. So these guys are hearing what

the gospel's about the person of Jesus, the history, the biblical

point by point step and he goes into great detail.

It's probably one of the greatest historical sermons in

the New Testament as to what God started with Abraham and moved

all the way through Christ when Christ came.

We'll take our time as we study this.

But, and so they're arguing with him.

But what was amazing was they inside weren't able to resist

the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.

There was an anointing on this man and they weren't able to

ignore it. They weren't able to dispute it.

They weren't really able to find concrete evidence to disagree

with what he was saying. They didn't like what he was

saying, but they weren't able to disagree with what he was

saying. They were convicted even at the

early stage of his his preaching here.

And it says then they secretly induce men to say we have heard

him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

So already these guys are beginning to spread division and

lies among the multitudes of people.

They're putting him down. They're disagreeing, they're

lying about things he said. Isn't that typical of anybody

that is influential in the culture?

If they're good people and they're trying to do the right

job, how many people slander the leader or the spokesperson or

the person? You know, it could be a

politician, it could be, you know, whatever, a pastor, you

guys or your family, you know, you're sharing your faith with

someone and, and they're, they're saying, well, you know,

I wouldn't listen to him because I saw him run a red light last

week. You know, he's not a real

Christian or just goofy stuff, right?

They come up with all kind of reasons to invalidate you as

being a follower and a servant of God, right?

So they're beginning to stir all this up.

You know, we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses

and God. He never did that, but he surely

told them that Jesus was better than Moses, which he is, right?

They also talked about the authority of Christ versus all

those who went before him. He was very clear on

representing the Lord as as to who he was and what he did.

And it says in verse 12. And they stirred up the people,

they got them all uptight, got them all anxious, aggravated the

elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized him and

brought him to the council. So none of the stuff's true.

What they're saying about this evangelist Stephen, he's being

faithful to this. Give the word out there, simply

the history of what Christ has done and they get this group of

people that want to arrest them now, seize them and bring them

before the authorities, the same authorities that Christ had to

go through and go before, which is interesting.

They also set up false witnesses who said this man does not cease

to speak blasphemous words against this holy place in the

law. False witnesses, That's common

in the day as well. How many times have you heard

things that are being said about someone that aren't?

That isn't true. This is happening in the

political arena right now. Thank the Lord there's evidence

to the contrary and it's brought out to clarify that it is a lie

and it's not true. But if the enemy always wants to

bring lies and slanderous things.

Against the truth. It's just the way it is in in

our world, and it's the way it's been since the beginning of

time. So they set up these false

witnesses. Now, when Stephen was speaking

about what God had put on his heart, he wasn't like saying

that the temple was insignificant, but he was trying

to help them understand. You've made this into an

idolatrous institution. You begun to worship the

structure and the artwork and the beauty of the temple and not

the one who created it. And that can happen very easily

in, in, in churches. People told you, if you've been

into that church, it's magnificent.

They have the most amazing stained glass and they have, you

know, how high ceilings in the, in the chandeliers and, and

people can go on and on and on and they like, they go into that

and then they think, well, you know, because all that stuff's

there, then there must be God must be there somehow.

And then they, they, they come into a place like this.

And where's the stained glass man?

You know, is this really a church or is this a cult or what

is this place? You know, and I'm not negating

the beauty. I like a, a beautiful church.

I go into Saint Vincent once in a while and pray when I'm

driving down the road. I just like going in there

because it's sun's coming in through that stained glass

window. It's cool.

I like that. If we could afford it, I'd like

to do it right, but we're never, we're probably never going to be

able to do that. So if you want that, you got to

go up there, right? Nonetheless, it's not an opinion

of this is better and this is worse.

You know, the whole idea was it was their heart.

And because of their hearts being so focused on religion and

the duty of the law, they were religious Pharisees, and they

were trying to make everybody in a legalistic way, follow their

pattern of religion. And so Stevens telling them

about the freedom that we have in Christ and that God is not

dwelling in temples made with hands, Jesus made that clear.

It's nice, you know, when we're together as a church, I sense

God's presence here, not because of the building, but because

you're here. You represent him.

Your life is filled with God's Spirit and, and that's what

makes the place alive When whenever you guys all leave here

and you walk in here, it's just a room.

It's just a room, but you still can sense of spirit because he's

with you if you're the only one in the room.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will

destroy this place and change the customs which Moses

delivered to us. So they're really making a big

deal about the building. And whenever Jesus said this

temple will be destroyed or be raised up in three days, we all

know because we went through the Gospel studying, that he was

referring to his body, right, and his resurrection.

But of course, the temple was going to be destroyed in AD 70.

And he warned them about what was going to happen to their

wonderful city and because of their Pagan rituals and

everything else that was going on, that the Lord was going to

allow that all to be eventually destroyed.

And the customs, you know, the traditions of men make God's

word of no effect. If I or Lewis or any of us as

leading the church began to make a custom primary versus the

worship of Jesus, we've lost it. We've already gone down the

wrong Rd. 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 area, you can listen to Grace FM

on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping support the

new station that will reach thousands more listeners.

Send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601 also

invite you to join us in person this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E

Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.

To stay up to date, visit calvarychapelonline.com where

you can find our teaching archive, submit prayer requests,

join our e-mail list, or give online.

If you're outside the area, don't worry, you can still

worship with us through the Calvary Chapel Westmoreland

YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe so you

won't miss new content. We're so thankful that you

joined us today. Be sure to tune in to the next

edition of Living Waters of Grace.