Living Waters of Grace 09.29.25

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.

It's all about His love for us and His desire to help us see

that we need Him. We don't need religion and we

don't need church per SE. We don't need all the stuff that

goes along with hypocrisy that many times is seen in churches.

We need the real Jesus and the real love of God and the

forgiveness of God all of us every day, so that we might live

after the ways of God to be representatives of Him.

You can go to church every Sunday for your entire life and

still not get into heaven. You're just filling up your

spiritual tank without any destination to move towards.

Pastor Clark teaches you today that if you haven't accepted

Jesus's gift of salvation and allowed the Holy Spirit to

transform you from the inside out, you're like a car without

an engine. You'll go anywhere in this life

or the next if the Holy Spirit isn't living inside you, making

you more and more like Jesus every single day.

Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 5 with today's edition

Acts 5 · chapter mention

of Living Waters of Grace. If you have your Bibles today,

you can turn to Acts chapter 5 and we'll continue on where we

Acts 5 · chapter mention

left off. The book of the Acts is really

an exciting book to study because it's all about the early

church and how the church started and how people became

followers of Jesus out of a Pagan lifestyle.

All of us at one times were pagans.

We had quite a story in our lives of how we lived before we

came to know Jesus Christ. I did a funeral on Saturday, a

difficult funeral, and most of the people that were there were

lost. They didn't know anything about

Jesus. I could sort of tell they're

like, OK, when's this guy going to get done with what he's

talking about? So we can just get out of here,

right? But I had a captive audience for

a little bit of time, so I took advantage of it and I shared the

gospel and why we need Jesus. And the statistics right now of

people 22 and under is astounding in regard to suicide.

The number of young people that are taking their lives is out of

control. And we were in a little

restaurant in Irwin after the, after the funeral, Cindy and I

and, and we were in this cool little place called Candy Corner

down in Irwin. And they had a sign about the

importance of getting disconnected from the wireless

Internet and the devices we have that sort of become an

appendage. You know, we don't think we can

live unless we have a news feed every 10-15 minutes.

I'm, I'm shocked at times. I get a report every week on how

many hours I've been on this thing and it's, it's like, I

gotta like get off this thing, you know, kind of like fast or

something. I mean, it's nice to have news

and communication, but it's just so fast and furious and it's

almost like an addiction, you know, you're just connecting to

it all the time. You find yourself looking at it

how many times minute or an hour a day.

And unfortunately, you know, for us as Christians, we're, we're

not looking at stuff on the Internet.

I would hope that isn't helpful for us spiritually, but young

people are getting hit with all kind of weird stuff and exposed

to things that are not good for the soul and the heart.

And so as a result, you know, it's, it's a real difficult

situation that we're dealing with in the US, in the world,

Roe versus Wade. I think what, what happens with

us as Christians is that people that aren't Christians think

we're bigoted or we're trying to control or we're, we're trying

to judge or criticize. I mean, it's, it's not

Christianity and the, and the gospel is not about any of that

subject. Abortion is 1 issue that's

discussed in the Bible, but it's not the only issue, is it?

Christians aren't focused on one issue.

We're focused on every issue that the Bible teaches from

Genesis to Revelation, Amen. The truth of God and living for

the truth is what God wants. So when we think about the issue

of life, some of us have have been in situations, maybe in

families, whatever, where there's been abortions that have

occurred and, and it's been before we knew the Lord or maybe

even after the we knew the Lord. Some things have happened at

times in families and we're the last people that should judge

anybody for anything because of God's mercy and taking the

judgment of off off of us and putting it on Jesus right for

our sins. We're no better than anybody

else right. People that live in excess

drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality.

The Bible says such were some of you.

I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but I can put myself

in that position that you are washed, you are justified,

you're sanctified, you're a cleanse.

God gives us a new life in Christ, doesn't he?

To take away all of our compulsions and the things we're

maybe overboard in our life. And it's all about his love for

us and his desire to help us see that we need him.

We don't need religion and we don't need church per SE.

We don't need all the stuff that goes along with hypocrisy that

many times is seen in churches. We need the real Jesus and the

real love of God and the forgiveness of God all of us

every day so that we might live after the ways of God and and be

representatives of him. So as we study the book of the

Acts, these guys were characters before they came to know Jesus.

They were fishermen. They lived a life that was

godless prior to coming to know the Lord and they ended up

having a salvation or a born again experience.

Jesus personally called these guys to himself to follow him.

So we'll pick it up. Their whole goal in everyday

life now in this book of the Acts is how can I tell someone

about Jesus? Every day they got up and their

whole focus every day was I want to tell the world, I want to

tell the city of Jerusalem about what Jesus has done for people.

And so because of that, they began to experience opposition

in the in the city of Jerusalem. The Roman Empire was involved

with control, and they did not want the Christian movement to

change their way of life and the way they wanted the citizens to

live. And so we'll pick it up on verse

12 of chapter 5. This will set it up for where

we're going in regard to when these guys got thrown in jail

for sharing their faith. So it says in verse 12.

And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders

were done among the people. And they were all with 1 accord

in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them.

But the people esteemed them highly and believers were

increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and

women. And so we see this work of God's

miraculous supernatural power healing people and touching

people physically, emotionally, psychologically, casting demons

out, setting people free from their adversity that they had

encountered in their lives. And these people that were

experiencing this in the city, it wasn't in a building, there

was no church at the time. They met in the streets and they

were with the people in the streets that people's lives

began to become impacted by seeing these miracles and seeing

and sensing the power of God, his miraculous healing power.

And so it says, believers were increasingly added to the Lord,

multitudes of both men and and women so that they brought the

sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches

that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on

some of them. Also a multitude gathered from

the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people

and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were

all healed. This wasn't just a few people

that got changed. This was like anybody that

showed up that had a need were touched by the Lord through the

hands of the apostles in the prayers.

So when the gospel goes out and people hear the truth or the

good news of Jesus Christ, one or two things happen.

People either say, wow, this makes sense.

I need this in my life. I want this in my life.

I need a savior, I need Jesus. Or people get mad, they get

angry, they get offended, they're insulted, and they want

to retaliate against anybody that is a follower of Jesus

Christ or represents him in any way.

And this is what happens. Now we look in verse 17, it

says, then the high priest rose up and all those who were with

him, which is the Sadducees, and they were filled with

indignation, and they laid their hands on the apostles and put

them in the common prison. So this is what happens.

It still happens in some parts of the world.

It's beginning, I think, to happen, unfortunately, in

America where, you know, freedom of speech or freedom of

religion, these kind of things that we always felt were part of

our constitutional rights, which they are, are being sort of like

circumvented. And we're being set up to look

like a bunch of fanatics and idiots and right wing wackos,

right? Because we are followers of

Jesus Christ and there's people that would want to silence you

in regard to your faith or ridicule you or stone you or

maybe try to kill you. I don't know.

This happens in third world countries like Iraq and Iran and

parts of Africa. Terrible forms of persecution

against people who are just wanting to love people and tell

them about Jesus. No agenda other than, hey, let

me tell you what the Lord did for me, how He changed my life,

how He gave me hope, how He forgave me, how He took my guilt

away. All the things that I was so

distraught over that I had done in my life.

That the Lord had completely forgiven me freely and loved me

and doesn't condemn me and doesn't hold anything against me

anymore because of what Christ has done for me.

I mean, that's like the best news that anybody could ever

have. So these guys, because of them

doing the ministry immediately, again, this is the second time

they're being confronted with their evangelism.

It needs to be stopped. They're thrown in prison.

And the people that are putting them in prison are the very

people that this months previous to this had ended up making sure

that Jesus was silenced and were responsible for having him

crucified. And so it says after these guys

were thrown in this common prison, a miracle happened.

Verse 19. But at night, an Angel of the

Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go

stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this

life. I mean, these guys are locked in

prison. There's guards.

There's no way out unless there is a miracle.

And they were set free by an Angel of the Lord.

Now an Angel the Lord in Bible history many times looks like

common normal people. You can't really tell who's an

Angel who isn't they, they don't come down here with wings on,

you know, they just, they're just put in position by God to

help people out in different jams and situations of life.

The Angel spoke to them, made it possible for these doors to open

with the guards being totally disconnected from what was

happening in the physical realm. This is a spiritual,

supernatural dimension of this Angel working this miracle to

get these guys out of the prison doors.

And he doesn't say, hey, you're free now, take off, get on a

ship, go to some other country, get away from these crazy

people. You're going to end up dying

because of what you're doing. No, he gave them specific

direction in verse 20. Go stand in the temple and speak

to the people all the words of this life.

So in other words, they were told to go out and do what they

were doing before. The Angel didn't say hey you

better not talk about this anymore just move on.

No, they were given specific direction to pick up where they

had left off. And when they heard that they

entered the temple early in the morning.

So they they got out of prison. They head over to the temple.

The temple was huge. It had all these porches and

porticoes there. There was no internal place for

them to go. So they would be on these big

porches where the people would gather and they would hear these

guys talk about the faith and they were told to tell the

people the words of this life. And So what happened was then

the high priest and those who those with him came and called

the council together with all the elders of the children of

Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought.

So this is comical. They weren't even aware yet of

what had happened. These guys in charge of the

religious system at the time that were adversaries of of the

gospel of Jesus. They said, go get those guys,

bring them down here. We're going to deal with them

now for the crime of what they would call insurrection or

spreading this new religious sect in the city of Jerusalem.

They were totally opposed to that.

And so they were gonna, you know, there's gonna be

consequences for these guys doing it over again even after

they got out of prison the first time.

So it says. But when the officers came in

verse 22 and did not find them in prison, they returned and

reported saying, indeed, we found the prison shut securely

and the guards standing outside before the doors.

But when we opened them, we found no one inside.

Isn't that fascinating? I mean, the, the guards were

there. They were, they weren't sleeping

on the job. They were totally aware of what

was happening in, in the responsibilities they had, but

they didn't see what God did with this Angel and how these

guys got out of the out of the jail cell this miraculous.

And so they assume you go down, get these guys bringing up,

we're going to judge them and and there's going to be

consequences 'cause they're not, they're not following what we're

telling them to do. Now, when the high priest, the

captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these things,

they wondered what the outcome would be.

So one came and told them saying, look, the men whom you

put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the

people that had to make them livid.

How in the world can this happen?

What's what's going on here? The captain went with the

officers and brought them without violence, for they

feared the people that they should be stoned.

So whenever they went up to collect these guys to grab them

and take them to the place where they were going to be judged for

disobeying the law, they had to do it in a very laid back, not

pushy kind of way. Because all these thousands of

people that were in the area at the time were really into what

the apostles were teaching. And they loved the Lord and they

loved the word of God. And they couldn't, like,

physically manhandle these guys in a way that would cause the

crowd to get uptight and perhaps start a battle there.

So it's fascinating that these guys, in spite of the

consequences of what's going to happen when they tell people

about Jesus, it didn't stop them.

They weren't fearing the authorities or the people.

Now I have to stop and think about myself or you.

And a culture that is basically opposite of what it is we're

discussing today. Not everybody, some, some people

say it's 5050. I don't know what the

percentages are, but it, it's obvious now that like when I was

a kid and, and maybe some of you guys remember, there wasn't any

kind of like pushback regard to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was almost, I think for a period of time in our nation's

history, something that was valued, appreciated, honored and

respected. Even if you weren't a believer,

there would be presidents that would be supportive of

judeo-christian values. And of course, the Constitution

has biblical principles all through it.

When did it start going South and when did it start getting

more difficult to voice your opinion, I guess, or voice your

position on the Bible and on on truth?

When did this actually begin to happen?

I think it's been like a slow burn.

It's like the frog in the frying pan.

The heat keeps getting turned up.

And we don't, like, really recognize how we're losing our

religious liberties. So here we are today, where

we're viewed by people in the House, in the Congress and in

the White House as troublemakers that need to be silenced.

Where are you and me in regard to sharing our faith?

I met with the evangelist at the campus of Penn State College

last week. He's been a friend of mine for

years, and he stands in front of the science building.

All these bright young brains coming out of Penn State to go

into incredible careers and he would just talk and preach and

share and give positions on what is truth and students would

engage with him. Some would argue, some would

listen, some would end up believing and become Christians.

Well, Gary told me now, he said, Clark, it's so bad up here that

anybody that's a student that hears this will be really

apprehensive about engaging me in any kind of dialogue.

Because they said what'll happen is, is that the students will

get blackballed on Facebook or social media and they'll be held

out as being like right wing crazy people because they are

interested in the gospel of Christ.

And they're concerned that that'll be set up somehow in

their resumes and they won't be able to get jobs.

And so they're like running silent.

Fortunately, he's he's allowed to continually do that.

Quite a wealthy man many years ago made an endowment to the

college that this would be the deal, that there would be a

preacher in front of the science building until Jesus came being

funded by some very wealthy person.

So they can't throw Gary off campus.

They just got to put up with him, which is.

Which is pretty cool, you know? Yeah.

So you have the situation though, that in Jerusalem at the

time, I mean, it was definitely bad and and I would say worse

than what maybe we think we're experiencing right now.

The captain went with the officers and brought them

without violence. They feared the people would

unless they should be stoned. And when they brought them, they

set them before the council. And the high priest asked them

saying, did not we strictly command you not to teach in his

name? Like, what's up with you guys?

We told you you can't do this. And look, you have filled

Jerusalem with your doctrine and intended to bring this man's

blood on us. So what?

What's amazing is there was such a a power in the early church

that the whole city was aware of the gospel.

Unfortunately, the whole city of Greensburg, I'm sure, is not

aware of the Gospel, nor the state of Pennsylvania, nor the

United States of America, let alone the rest of the world.

Why? Because we as Christians have

been, I think, apathetic or complacent in regard to sharing

our faith when we have opportunities to share it.

I'm not talking about pushing people with this stuff.

There was a time when people tell me about this before I

believed I didn't want to hear them.

So I don't want to. I don't want to hear about this

stuff so people would, you know, respect me and my opinion and

maybe pray for me, but they wouldn't bug me about this stuff

all the time. But there has to be this

opportunity to have conversation with people that have views that

are different than yours and mine, not out of judgment, but

out of love. You want lost people to know

that there's a God who loves them and cares about them no

matter what they've done. He's a forgiving, merciful God

that has to be in our hearts as Christians, front and center.

And the positions of that come up, you know, nowadays in regard

to human sexuality or, you know, issues of when life is truly in

the womb and positions of morals and creation and all these

things that are obviously very viable truths that need to be

communicated right to people that don't know the other side.

I mean, I think it's good to have a, a, a conversation with

someone who's an evolutionist. You don't ridicule them and make

fun of them and call them stupid, whatever you want to

find out why they think the way they think and what causes them

to have the position they have. And then share some information

that you have regarding Genesis and what the Bible teaches about

how mankind came into existence in regard to the issue of jobs

right now and all the people that are complaining, there's no

one that's out there that wants to work well.

No one ever asks the question, why is there less people

physically able to work? Well, when you think about the

number of lives that have been taken over the last 30 years, if

they weren't taken, there'd be a lot of people that would be here

that could work or do whatever. They're not here.

They weren't given the chance. They were taken out before they

were born. 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. And 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 move 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 where you

can also join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, give

online and download our mobile app.

If you are in the Greensburg 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.

If you can join us in person, you can subscribe to the Calvary

Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel so you'll be alerted

when new material becomes available.

We're so grateful that you joined us today in Axe TuneIn

again soon for another edition of Living Waters of Grace.