[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 10, last week we talked a little bit about being available if you're here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about just being available.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's not so much interested in your ability as he is in your availability.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: By some of you you're like, well, I can't do those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gifted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to do what other people can do and God isn't looking for your talent.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will give you the talent.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will give you the gifting when it's needed, but he's looking for your availability.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you available for God to use?
[SPEAKER_00]: As we looked at last week, Peter, he's kind of the main focus right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: If Saul was the main focus for a few weeks here, if you've been with us for some time, but then it shifted focus, Luke, the author shifts focus to...
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter and Peter's going place to place, it's kind of like he's just going with the flow of the Holy Spirit wherever you want me to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where I'm going.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoever you want me to talk to, that's who I'm going to talk to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Send me, use me, whatever you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then at the end of chapter nine, there's a strange little verse.
[SPEAKER_00]: It almost seems like weird or like why do they need to have it there?
[SPEAKER_00]: But it says in verse 43, and he stayed, this is Peter in Java for many days with one Simon, a Tanner.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now last week I told you
[SPEAKER_00]: an important detail and we're going to unpack this a bit today because God is setting something up, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's setting something up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter is still becoming the man that God wants him to be, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not finished.
[SPEAKER_00]: None of us here are finished.
[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't arrived as you might want to say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quite we're all in process, we're all becoming the people God wants us to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter, he's been used in tremendous ways as we've noted throughout our time and acts.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's preached at Pentecost.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's seen thousands, give their life to Jesus, baptize thousands, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But God's not finished working on Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: And today, we're going to see God's going to challenge Peter with maybe challenge some of us with a situation in which I don't think Peter would choose for himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's kind of the question, or my message title is even them, even them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to think about just for a minute, because Peter's going to come into a situation
[SPEAKER_00]: that he wouldn't choose for himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's available.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, I'll go anywhere, do whatever you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: But historically speaking, he wouldn't go to the Gentiles, because that's against the law, against Old Testament, right, not to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's my question for us today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you available for even the ones that you might deem unworthy?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you available to be used by God to go meet the one that you might see on the side of the street and you'd say well it's like surely like that not they can't be saved maybe or you have their dirty their grosser someone has some type of problem you say all you know God has mercy and grace, but I don't know about them even them
[SPEAKER_00]: Consider this today.
[SPEAKER_00]: God loves even them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So verse 1 of chapter 10 will read through verse 8, says, at Cestaria there was a man named Cornelius.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now we're introduced to a new character.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says that he's a centurion of what was known as the Italian Courhart, a centurion.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a Roman centurion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Known as the Italian Courhart, a devout man.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is interesting who feared God.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like even a Roman citizen, a Gentile, that's what he is, fears God and says, with his whole household, he gave arms generously to the people, so he's generous, financially there, says, and he prayed continually to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was fervent in prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says about the ninth hour of the day,
[SPEAKER_00]: He saw clearly in a vision, an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius, and he stared at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, your prayers, and your arms have ascended as a memorial before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now, send men to Japa and bring one Simon, who is called Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is lodging with one Simon, a Tanner, who's houses by the sea.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the angel spoke to him, when the angel who spoke to him had departed,
[SPEAKER_00]: He called two of his servants in a devout soldier from among those who attended him and having related everything to them, he sent them to drop up.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so to set the scene up a little bit, Luke introduces us again to Cornelius.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's something we need to know to understand the context of what's going on, because Peter, Peter's a Jewish man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jewish men and Gentiles, they don't mix, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: If you remember Jesus when he goes to the woman at the well, he was a Samaritan woman and he's like, what do you a Jewish man have to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why are you speaking to me as Samaritan woman, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: A Gentile is for all intensive purposes for today, like our understanding.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a non-Jewish person.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're not Jewish and you're here today, you're a Gentile.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry if that's offensive, but that's just the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the Jewish people and there's the Gentiles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody else, I'm a Gentile.
[SPEAKER_00]: And something like, I don't like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know what I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter's the Jewish man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius, he's a Gentile man, and again, these aren't going to mix, but Peter got his doing something in Peter's heart, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: First off, last week he stayed at a man at Tanner, I mentioned last week it's not a tanning salon, this isn't something like normal, like this is a Gentile place, this is something that would be in a Jewish perspective, defiled, dirty, uncooling, you don't stay at someone's house, who works with dead animals, that's what they would do at Tanner.
[SPEAKER_00]: but God's starting to open up Peter's heart to the possibility that maybe just maybe there's more to this than just what we see.
[SPEAKER_00]: See like cultural things and I'm sure you guys see this and know this but like every culture is different.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just the hand if you agree, like, yeah, that's true, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think back to when I went to, I did a, what do you call it, a mission strip, probably 2011 or so.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went to Mexico, I know Mexico is close, but it is a different country, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I know there's like people speak Spanish here, and we eat Mexican food here, things of that nature, but like it's a different culture when you go over there, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, can we agree on that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you guys been to Mexico?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so anyway, we go there, though, and there's a kind of a cultural custom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we went there to build houses for people, and these are people who are literally living in like, I mean, cardboard boxes, not just like one of them, but it was like a glorified, if you were a kid, and you saw this, like it would be your dream for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they're living in, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking to families, nine people, husband, wife, and seven kids in the cardboard box type of deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we go over there and there's a ministry called a more ministries, if you're ever looking for an opportunity to go serve, you just want to go and I encourage you to go down there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I volunteered my time, I went down there for a month and we built houses there for these families.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now again, it's a different culture.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't speak Spanish.
[SPEAKER_00]: I speak like un poquito, moi, poquito, Spanish, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that even right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Taco, burrito,
[SPEAKER_00]: I go down there and they know as much English as I know Spanish, so you can see there's like this is going to be difficult to talk to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, there was something the people told us of more ministries.
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, hey, you're going to go down there, we're going to build these houses and more than likely the family is going to want to make food for everyone who's working here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, it's a cultural thing, like you have to take the food.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, you don't have to, they told us, like you don't have to eat the food.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you need to take it and you need to go around the corner or something because it's disrespectful.
[SPEAKER_00]: This family is literally giving everything that they have to make a meal to say thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got to take it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for me, I'm like, oh, man, I'll take seconds, thirds, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: On the, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a cultural thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's a lot of cultural differences.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to say it's like every culture is different.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it builds up some type of wall or maybe a our own understanding.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just think this is the way it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now with Jewish men back then, like the way it was was like, again, Gentiles and Jews, they don't mix.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, we're going to see Peter in a minute, he's going to have a vision and God's going to totally tear down a cultural wall that was there for not just in Peter's lifetime, but like centuries going through Jewish history.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's going to tear down a wall and he's going to show that, hey, even them, the ones that you might deem on worthy or they're something else, even them, I died for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Cornelius comes into the scene.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a Gentile.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not one of Peter's
[SPEAKER_00]: Friends, um, for all we know he's never met Peter, he's obviously heard of Peter now, um, and Peter's never met and probably never heard of Cornelius.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know of Cornelius that he's a praying man, he fervently praise there, even though he's a Gentile man, and maybe he,
[SPEAKER_00]: doesn't know as much as someone else, but he's still praised to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's generous with what he has, and he's searching.
[SPEAKER_00]: We could say that much, that he's searching for something, and here's an important point here as we go through this, is that even though he's a Gentile man and the Jewish people would say, no, he's an outcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's unworthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can't be saved, maybe, where we can be encouraged as that God sees him.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, God sends a vision and angel there to him and says, hey, I see what you're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see where you're at and I maybe that's an encouragement for some of you today is just like, hey, God sees you right where you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other people might say that dude's got problems.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they can be saved and you might even think I don't know if I can be saved But I would just say God sees you right where you're at He knows what's going on in your heart in your mind all around you and maybe God just wants to speak you speak to you today If you're struggling with that thought is just like hey, he loves you
[SPEAKER_00]: and he's died for you and he's done all the things so that you could have eternal life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we see God sees him right where he's at and then it says at the end and he gives him very specific instructions says hey go get Simon who's called Peter, not Simon the other guy and he's very clear to say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: but Simon who's called Peter go get him go talk to him and so that's the setup right hey go find this person this is the next step now meanwhile we're going to go to verse 9 and see what happened to says the next day as they were on their journey so they're going he's sent the guys hey go to drop a find this guy who's staying at this guy's house by the sea his name Simon Peter
[SPEAKER_00]: not Simon the Tanner bringing back so says the next day as they're on their journey and approaching the city Peter went up on the house top so it's kind of like if we're watching a movie or a TV show in the camera at lens has just kind of moved over here we're looking at Cornelius he has this encounter with an angel vision if you will and now we're looking at Peter right same kind of thing same timeline and now what's going on with Peter he's up on the house top
[SPEAKER_00]: about the six hour to pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's going up there to pray something he'd probably do every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is normal routine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 10 it says, and he became hungry, wanted something to eat.
[SPEAKER_00]: But well, they were preparing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the food.
[SPEAKER_00]: says he fell into a trance, fell into a trance and says in that he saw the heavens opened something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we can see here, again, the camera has changed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius has had a vision, go find Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Peter's having a vision, and it's going to be a little strange, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Says that he's hungry, he's up on the rooftop, because he's praying, while he's praying, he falls into a trance, and then he sees that the heavens are opened up, something like a great sheet descended.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know how to picture it when I try to think of it, it's just, it looks weird in my brain.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this look weird to you, guys?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like a great sheet, like a bed sheet?
[SPEAKER_00]: What does this, I don't know, we don't know exactly, but he gets this vision descending, being
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that just makes it even more interesting, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And just imagine Peter's like, what is this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what is going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a little weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then verse 13, as he's seen this vision, there came a voice, said rise, Peter, kill, and eat.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is something's going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, this is God starting to change Peter, because again, Peter still becoming the man God wants him to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter's not perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not, God's not done with him yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so in this moment, this is a vision.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, sees these animals rise Peter killing eat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 14, this is very much like Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter said, by no means, Lord, right, we've heard that before, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, and Peter, Jesus said, hey, you guys are all going to deny me, and Peter's like, absolutely not.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be here for the whole thing, right together, die together, Jesus, only to find out a little bit later that Peter did deny Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Peter's very much that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: By no means, Lord, he's got a little bit of pride, a little stubbornness, we could say.
[SPEAKER_00]: or unclean.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just to give some more context, again, this is like a cultural thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: We might not understand so much today here in America in 2006, but for Peter, like this is he grew up as a Jewish man in a Jewish house, this is a whole who ate dietary restrictions according to the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_00]: You understand?
[SPEAKER_00]: like that's how he grew up.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what he knew.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you came and you're like, hey, I got a cheeseburger, he'd say like, no, I can't.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't even face him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't be like, oh, maybe I can have them.
[SPEAKER_00]: He asked my mom.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, it's an absolute, no, that's how they grew up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what he knew.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he says, by no means, Lord, I can't just beat whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean in verse 15.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says,
[SPEAKER_00]: Right what God has made clean do not call common in verse sixties says this happened three times So it wasn't just once.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't twice as three times.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like hey, I need you to get this Peter
[SPEAKER_00]: need you to understand and what we'll see shortly that this is not just about food right some of us and i've heard pastors my pastor make jokes about this stuff like you know and praise god because we can have a cheeseburger or bacon on our cheeseburger right because everything's clean and i think that i mean yes sure that's true like you we could eat these things but that's not all that he's saying here we'll see in a little bit that he's actually talking about people
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not talking about food, he's talking about people, but he's using this vision to get a message across.
[SPEAKER_00]: So three times this happened, and the thing was taking up at once and to heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed, so he's like, oh, what was that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was weird, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, what else to what the vision that he had seen might mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen animals come down, rise, kill and eat, and don't call what I've called clean, common,
[SPEAKER_00]: What does this mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius having made the inquiry for Simon's house stood at the gate.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I find interesting here is that God setting this up so perfectly, because again, Cornelius and his guys are Gentiles.
[SPEAKER_00]: But God's told them, hey, go find Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if God didn't get through to Peter before this, like Peter would deny the request, no, you're a Gentile, I can't meet with you, I can't talk with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: But God's getting to Peter at the same time, which I love this though, about God, because God's working in ways we can't see.
[SPEAKER_00]: The people that you might think, well, I don't know what to say or how to help them, or they're too far gone.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, how do you know God's not working in their heart right this very moment?
[SPEAKER_00]: And when God brings them into your life, like an opportunity, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: When we're like, hey, I'm available.
[SPEAKER_00]: God used me and God brings an opportunity.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's already planted the seed in the other person.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's already stirring their heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's already getting their mind wrapped around things that he wants them to understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what are we so worried about?
[SPEAKER_00]: We're like, well, I don't know if
[SPEAKER_00]: be faithful, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just listen to what I've said.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it says they called out.
[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to talk to Peter, verse 18, called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they get to the gate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this the right place?
[SPEAKER_00]: Our boss had a dream and an angel visited him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know how would that go?
[SPEAKER_00]: That'd be an interesting thing to describe.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now we're here looking for Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: In verse 19, while Peter was pondering the vision, he's still thinking about it, the spirit said to him, the whole three men are looking for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, Peter, you got company.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So some instructions from the Lord, right, as Peter's like, okay, I'm available, I'm here to be used.
[SPEAKER_00]: God says, hey, go on, now go down there, go meet them, because I've sent them to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: verse 21 says, and Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you're looking for.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is the reason for your coming?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why are you here?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's up?
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 22 says, and they said, Cornelius, a centurion upriding Godfaring man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's like, hey, Cornelius, our master wants you to come over and, I mean, doesn't say this in this text, but basically he wants you to tell us about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: there's really what's going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to hear what you have to say and what does Peter have to say?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean he's been preaching the gospel everywhere he goes so far, why would it change now?
[SPEAKER_00]: So verse 23, so he invited them into be his guest the next day he rose and went away with them and some of the brothers from Japa company to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And on the following day, they entered Cessaria.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius was expecting them.
[SPEAKER_00]: It called together his relatives and close friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can see kind of this setup, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: God started with Cornelius, gave him a vision, told him, go get this guy now, it's happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's like, okay, I need to get my friends and family like, Peter's coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want them to hear this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a cool note, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't just want it for himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants this for his family and his friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 25, it says when Peter entered Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So you could just imagine he's heard probably many things about Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hear the apostle, the great one, and so his first reaction is, I mean, he falls down, but I love what Peter says, Peter lifted him up, hey, get up, you know, so stand up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I too am a man, I'm just like you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a good thing to note too and maybe just remind ourselves of like we're all human, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we all make mistakes.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all in this together.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've heard it said that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like none of us have a better standing or a better, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all on the same plane field, I guess we could say.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Peter's like, I
[SPEAKER_00]: And as he talked with him, verse 27, he went in and found many persons gathered, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes in and he's like, well, this is a family reunion that I was just going to talk to a few guys, but it says, and he said to them, you yourself know how unlawful it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now this is where we're going to kind of get a little bit deeper, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's whole setup is of God, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can we agree with that?
[SPEAKER_00]: God told Cornelius to go get him.
[SPEAKER_00]: God gave Peter a vision and Peter is the guy that's like being
[SPEAKER_00]: Requested, so God's setting this all up, and Peter, He says that things as you yourselves, you gentiles here in this household, family, friends, all of you gathered together today.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know how unlawful this is right here right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: To ask me to come into your house, for me to be talking with you, for me to be here at all, right, to associate with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, that's just like, hey, being friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, again, this is cultural back then.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I know it's probably messed up, like man, how could that be?
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, God's tearing down a cultural wall, a barrier in this moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he says it's unlawful to associate with or to visit any one of another nation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this, but God has shown me.
[SPEAKER_00]: that I should not call any person common or unclean.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's the interpretation of the dream, if you will.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a dream, what does it mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Peter's like, I have learned
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen, I'm starting to understand, God has shown me this vision, the vision was about food, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Kill and eat, like you can have whatever you want, Peter, you don't need to eat kosher anymore, because here's the thing, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like they would eat kosher to basically
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, secure their standing with God, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, Old Testament is realites.
[SPEAKER_00]: God calls them to be set apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I'm making a people for myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I call in you to be a holy nation.
[SPEAKER_00]: But how did he do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: He gave them the law.
[SPEAKER_00]: The law was like, hey, okay, you gotta, you can't eat certain things.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna keep the Sabbath day you're gonna keep it holy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Gives them a whole list of things that were very different from the world around them, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's rules to apply to their life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, I'm setting you apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be different.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like, okay, I get it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So they grew up for hundreds, thousands of years if you will.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until this time, right now, God starting to break down the walls.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we could go and ask the question, well, if God gave the law, isn't the law applicable to us here today?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I would say, like, yes, it is in a way.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus says this, I have not come to abolish the law,
[SPEAKER_00]: Help me if you know fulfill it right Jesus came to come to fulfill it so Old Testament Jews like yeah You got to offer sacrifices because the sacrifice for your sins has not been made yet You got to try to atone for your sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to try to be clean But the truth of the matter is like you can't do it on your own That was the whole point now Jesus the pure spotless lamb he has come he's taken on our sin
[SPEAKER_00]: die in our place so that we can be made clean and whole and set apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: You understand?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like this is the struggle that would be going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know how unlawful it is for me to be here, according to Jewish customs, laws, religious tradition, if you will.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he says, but God has shown me.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I should not call any person common or unclean like, hey, God has shown me that things have changed, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because yeah, God was setting up a nation apart before.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was largely in part.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, they need to follow the law.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, now we're set apart by Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what does Jesus say, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, okay, back then, yeah, we don't associate with other nations.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what does Jesus literally say, like, you will be my witness to all nations.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the two can't go together like how we hold on to the law and we refuse to eat and associate with other people yet at the same time Jesus says we're supposed to go and evangelize to other people and other nations, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You understand what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like a contradiction but it's not, it's what I'm trying to tell you because Jesus has fulfilled it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, hey, you are now free to go and minister to whoever it is that I send to you or put in your path.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you're free to even eat, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas like Peter might have said, hey, no, I can't come to your dinner party because I mean, it's unclean food.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna defile me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even Jesus said one point in the gospel, he says, hey, what goes into your body's not what defiles you, what defiles you is your heart because your heart's already wicked and sinful above all else.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, anyway, the whole thing is like, but, I mean, I wonder how many people Peter might have denied, like, not can't come over.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't pray for you because
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you're unclean and I'm a Jewish man, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But the whole point here is like, hey, that stuff doesn't need to separate us anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus has died in our place so that we can go and reach these people.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know, I'm getting way off track and I apologize.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope this makes sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: My notes are of no use anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've messed that up, but I hope this makes some sense Because like some people that you might be like, well, I can't go minister to them because I don't know, you fill in the excuse.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love their an alcoholic.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're their life's a mess and
[SPEAKER_00]: They're associated with other things of the world, not maybe true, but you will refuse to go maybe, for instance, go like, have a meal with them because you think they're unclean or that you shouldn't be doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You understand what I'm getting at here?
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, God has said, hey, don't call what I've called clean common.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't say like, well, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't let these things cultural differences stand
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we could say, no, I'm not going to go, God's given us the freedom to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter could say, no, I don't want to meet with Cornelius, and I believe God would erase somebody else up, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It would have been probably John, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you don't want to do a Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now we're going to bring John into the equation, so he can preach to the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's an opportunity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just think in our lives, we probably turned down a lot of opportunities.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really, if we're honest, because of religious pride, well, I can't, because I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: You feel in the blink, because I'm better than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't think that, but that's really kind of
[SPEAKER_00]: what your actions amount to.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember coming back to Jesus, one of my friends who he gave his life to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's a radically transformed, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But he didn't just say Nick, I can't hang out with you anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saved, you're not.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you get saved, then we can hang out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd still get food with me, we'd go get wings and watch football games and all that stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was something that ministered to me greatly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, it's like someone who met me on my level who came where I was, like I didn't necessarily want to go to church all the time at that point.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, you know, I, baby stepped my way into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just, again, I just share this with you guys because I don't know, like, God's put people in your life in your path.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's calling you to minister and be a light, but some of you, you might refuse because you're like, of religious pride, legalism.
[SPEAKER_00]: And God's saying, hey, I can do a work here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter's learning this firsthand.
[SPEAKER_00]: God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says in verse 29, says, so when I was sent for, I came without objection, because I mean, who can deny this?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, God's doing something.
[SPEAKER_00]: He told me all these things and that you're at my door after all.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, and so I asked, then why you sent for me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: God set this whole thing up, but what's really going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius, let me know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 30 says, in Cornelius said, four days ago, about this hour I was praying in my house at the ninth hour and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your arms have been remembered before God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Send their for to Japa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is lodging in the house of
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have been kind enough to come.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, Cronus is like, I want to know God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's praying, I have a relationship with God, but he doesn't know the things that Peter knows yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can't go pick up a copy of the New Testament like you and I could here today.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know,
[SPEAKER_00]: What was Jesus like?
[SPEAKER_00]: What did he do?
[SPEAKER_00]: What did he teach?
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know about him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Cornelius tells him that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 34 says, so Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think this is like, in the moment that he's realizing all of a sudden that the people I thought couldn't be saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of a sudden, I realized that God shows no partiality between the Jews and the Gentiles.
[SPEAKER_00]: now I see right now I understand because the truth of the matter is he didn't before if you didn't have that vision if God didn't come through and say hey what I've called clean don't call uncommon and say rise kill and eat it's okay for you to have food of different cultures if you will now Peter in order to spread the gospel to them right if you didn't have that vision I don't think he would have understood now he's like
[SPEAKER_00]: another testament to like and he's still becoming who God wants him to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still in process and I understand now that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: As for the word that He sent to Israel preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, He is the Lord of all, you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
[SPEAKER_00]: He went about doing good and healing and all were all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: and healing all who are oppressed by the devil for God was with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 39, and we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
[SPEAKER_00]: They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead, and he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that this is the one appointed by God to be judged the living in the dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's like a long chunk, but what is Peter saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's telling them the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: I say, hey, I want to know, tell us what he commanded you, tell us what Jesus was like, tell us what what if you learned Peter, we want to know we want to become maybe their mind is disciples too.
[SPEAKER_00]: And his answer, it's the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus of Nazareth became, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He came and he was empowered by God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: He lived a perfect life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was healing people.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was casting demons out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He was driving back the darkness and then he was crucified on a tree for your sins,
[SPEAKER_00]: And essentially he says, and he was buried, and then he came back to life, and we're witnesses of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we've said this before numerous times, but I witness accounts are some of the most powerful accounts.
[SPEAKER_00]: My people will say, well, the Bible's made up and whatnot and all these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, there's so much I witness accounts and testimony is like, how could this be be false and Peter's?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I was I witness to his majesty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are there's different parts?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's in second Peter, maybe it's first Peter, and he says the same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, we've seen of his glory.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, and I'm going to tell you the same thing again, and again, Peter says in second Peter, like, it's good for me to remind you of these things, because you might think, well, Peter, you already said that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now what's next?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, what's next?
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me remind you of the gospel again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget about the main thing, and so Peter uses this moment to preach Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: God said it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: He preaches Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd imagine He probably said a lot more than what's recorded here.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just like the cliff notes version of what would happen there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter takes this opportunity to preach Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love the last party said there, verse 43, says that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this is something Peter's again realizing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not by good works that we're saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter doesn't say, well, you got to eat clean.
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to follow the Jewish dietary restrictions, and you got to become a Jew before you can become a Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say any of those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, everyone, or we could say anyone who believes
[SPEAKER_00]: Which that means it could be any person at any point in time, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Understand this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think some people, we could get more deeper theologically.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some people who think that you can't be saved no matter what you do and that you're just a whole theological debate, which I think is wrong, because right here everyone, anyone who calls out upon the name of Jesus, who anyone who believes in Him, who's Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: help me out Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the message of Peter saying there, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like it's not by our good works.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not by the me following the Israel Old Testament law.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's by Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I realize that now more than ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just love that Peter saying this and says verse 44,
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now we got like Pentecost 2.0.
[SPEAKER_00]: My first Pentecost was with the Jewish people who heard and saw and then the Holy Spirit fell.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now we got the Gentile people here in this moment and it says, well, he's, well, he's saying it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not even finished.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like God starts to move the Holy Spirit's port out.
[SPEAKER_00]: fell on all who heard the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: In verse 45, and says in the believers, from among the circumcised, which is a weird way to tell us that they're Jewish people, but that's what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says the Jewish people who had come with Peter, they were amazed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, so they're there with Peter, they see this happening, the Gentile people, Peter's preaching there, probably like amen, Peter, get him Peter, right, it's like preach it, brother, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the Holy Spirit starts to fall on the Gentiles and it's like, wait a second, what's going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't think, I thought that was just for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like there are maize, their shocked is another word we could say, and why are they shocked?
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
[SPEAKER_00]: even them.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ones that the Jewish people thought, well, they can't, they can't be saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've, they've done too much, surely.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, they, they got to be born into this thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought they got to follow the rules and restrictions that we've followed all of our life, like what's going on here, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're surprised, they're amazed, they're shocked, because the Holy Spirit's poured out on even what they might say, the unlikely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's really the heart of what I hope that we can see and take home today is like, even the unlikely God is trying to call and he's trying to reach.
[SPEAKER_00]: My pastor, this is a few, maybe a year or two ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of my friends who was a pastor, Calvary Tucson, Tucson, Arizona.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's text me one Sunday, I hate Robert talking about you today, you know, like, oh, well, what do you talk about?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's funny, I'll tell you what it was, but he's talking about, like, reaching the lost.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, unlikely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I happen to be the example he used as the unlikely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, he's like, hey, we used to have a pastor on staff named Nick.
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys remember Nick?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, he's covered in tattoos and had gauges.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's like, he's a very diverse.
[SPEAKER_00]: He used the word diverse like a hundred times.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like diversity on whatever, Robert.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I got the end of this thing like it goes, and he's just like, isn't it amazing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, even the unlikely can come to Jesus, and like, well, thank you, Robert.
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was, I mean, I understand, Robert, but I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't look like a pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't look like someone who on the street cars, like I'm going to make that guy's a Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unless you like read my tattoos, he probably wouldn't assume that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But even the unlikely, even them, it's like again, God wants to save each and every person in a round our lives, the ones that you say, well, they're unclean, they're too far gone, there's no hope for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, yes, there is hope, even them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I might have said this a little bit earlier, but maybe you've come in today and you're like, I'm too far gone, I've done too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to say, even you, God wants to save.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you say, well, no, I've done too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't be say, that's the say, Jesus' price that he paid on the cross isn't enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: And surely it was enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was more than enough, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: The Son of God becoming a man, dwelling on earth with us to give his pure perfect life, to be killed, crucified.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, just going to say that wasn't enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, no, Jesus did that for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: for me for the guy on the street corner, for the person at your work who you're like, I can't talk to them like they're just, they're too far gone.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, Jesus died even for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe just maybe God wants you to be available to some degree, to be able to preach to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't mean,
[SPEAKER_00]: Go and Bible bash then, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You've heard that term before.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you got any way like Bible bashing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I don't think any of us liked that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: When someone's like, oh, you're a sinner and you're going to hell.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like that might be true, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It might be in the Bible.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not gonna probably save anybody, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, really?
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know that on how could I be saved?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't think someone's gonna say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the Bible tells us that it's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe we could preach Jesus in a way that's kind like maybe this person just again like in theory a person at work That maybe you don't like they don't like you and you you really don't want preach Jesus to them But maybe you just showing kindness.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like maybe they've never seen kindness before
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they experience that, not just that work, but at everywhere that they go.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by you just kind of stepping out of your routine and say, hey man, how's it going today?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or can I pray for you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are you just being available?
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever God wants to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you stepping out of that would be that thing that would start to bring breakthrough, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Start to bring the gospel in to where you could eventually preach Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just love that it's, again, it's even them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know, maybe I just love it because I felt like the even then for a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody with me, maybe you felt like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: People judged you, you guys are all good, perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the, you guys are the teachers pet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm the one that's getting detention all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just, I find, I don't know, encouragement.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could just remind me of when I came to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And throughout my life, I mean, there was times when I'd go to church, and I felt like an outcast at certain churches, because they were very, I don't know, put together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I walk in, you know, with gauges and whatnot, and people automatically judge me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And part of my story is when I went to Calvary,
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I was kind of fed up with church and you would never have been there if you want to be, okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, hey, that's this is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is good and I'm glad you guys are here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was fed up with church.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I don't want anything to do with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can have a relationship with God and read the Bible and all that on my own.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in God, but I don't know if I believe in the church.
[SPEAKER_00]: My view has changed, I definitely understand it and the church hurt, but I was over it because I'm like, people are just so judgmental and they look at me and I think this guy's gone too far.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I go to Calvary two sons, young adult, ministry one night and I don't know if is my mom was like, hey, you should go check this out and I was kind of again over it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I'm done visiting churches like they're all the same, they're all judgmental.
[SPEAKER_00]: They all think they're perfect and whatever, but so I went.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I walk in there, and I was met with, I guess, acceptance is the first word I could say, I felt accepted there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, people were actually welcomed me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, how's it going?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's your name?
[SPEAKER_00]: This is your first time here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, cool, my name is John, and the guy I first met, his name was John.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then later, service happens, and then I mean this guy, John, we're talking, and I, my testimony is messy, some of you know it, but I just, I kind of give this guy the whole, like, full strength testimony, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like trying to, like, if you're going to, like, be religiously prideful and judge me, like, just judge me now, because here's it all, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I almost wanted him to judge me, so I could just be like, see, I'm never coming back.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just unloaded my testimony on this guy, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, here it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, all the stuff that I've done.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he totally won up to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, dude, that's amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and he tells me his testimony.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, dude, I used to be a heroin addict.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, and then I got in a motorcycle accident once.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I was in a coma for, I want to say he said a month, and he's like, I woke up out of this coma, and I didn't remember that I was a heroin addict anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got literally saved me from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh my goodness, like my testimony looks like kindergarten, child's play.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, but like right there in that moment, I felt like this is home.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this guy saw me and was like even him because he remembers like even me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just hope that you guys can think of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like some of the people you guys judge and you dismiss is like there's no chance or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have time for, maybe you don't judge him and not that you don't care, but you're just too busy to care for people.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, even them, God wants to say, and again, maybe some of you today you come in and you're just like, there's no hope for me to guess, there is hope, even you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even you online, like there is hope today, like if there's still time, everyone who believes in Jesus, who calls upon his name can receive forgiveness of sins and be saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it says that there are maze, they're shocked.
[SPEAKER_00]: even the Gentiles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 46, for they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extoling God.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, wait, wait, what?
[SPEAKER_00]: They're speaking in tongues too.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that, again, I thought that was just for the Jews.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Jewish people, nope, nope, but Jesus is for everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Says, then Peter declared, can anyone with hold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
[SPEAKER_00]: So in other words, Peter's seeing this happen, this salvation moment, people are coming to Jesus, they're getting say it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, oh, anybody got a tub with some water that we can baptize these people?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we need to baptize them on the spot and says, so we need to baptize them who have received the Holy Spirit and I love this note here, just as we have.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think prior to this whole encounter with Jesus and God shaping his heart, I don't think Peter would have thought that they could receive Jesus or the Holy Spirit on the same level as Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now God's breaking down these barriers, and He sees them as they're not outcasts or different, or that they're part of the family.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're just as we have on the same level.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in verse 48, the last verse of the morning here says, and He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, then they asked Him to remain for some days.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, in closing this message out, at least to try to close it a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: even them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus wants each and every person that come to repentance and salvation in his name and I just want you to consider maybe how would God want to use you in your life to reach other people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you available and I know some of you might think you don't know enough But I've said this numerous times over the last.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know a few weeks But it's like you know probably more than you think you know if you know the gospel You know enough like if you know Jesus you know enough you know you understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying like whatever you do know was enough for Jesus to save you And why isn't that enough to save somebody else?
[SPEAKER_00]: And we could go and share that with people and hopefully that they would respond.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they don't respond, I will just say this, like, don't get discouraged.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, the world will hate you because of me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I know we all would like to be like Peter and just go out there and like everybody just getting saved everywhere all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, that's not the case.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is kind of some highlights.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember the book of Acts is I think 30 or 40 years of stuff packed in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we look at it like man, just every day, like crazy stuff's happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: And definitely there was crazy things happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: but just be open to God's working in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: What would he want to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where would he want to send you?
[SPEAKER_00]: And just be ready for him to use you to reach the even them people in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But with that said, we're going to close up here and invite my wife back up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if she's there or someone could text her.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's in kids ministry.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we're going to pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: and then we'll close with some worship and communion.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Father, we just thank you for this this time, this time in your word, your word is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's it's our daily bread.
[SPEAKER_00]: And God, I just pray this morning that you've given us something to
[SPEAKER_00]: to chew on, to think about, God, maybe there's cultural barriers in our own life, Lord, as we look at different people, groups, and nations, and things, and I pray that this morning you'd break down the walls, and that we would see that even the ones we think maybe too far from you, even them, God, you love, even them, you're calling.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you would use us, God, and mighty ways to reach them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pray for every man and woman here today or watching online God, who might even be struggling with the thought of like they've been judged and that's where they're at right now and they feel like they're the even then I pray they would see and understand that you do love them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see them right where they're at.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a plan for their life and you've died for their salvation that they could have eternal life in your name Jesus and I pray that today if they've never made a commitment.
[SPEAKER_00]: or surrendered their life to you that today would be that day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so God go before us in this time of worship, communion may we consider the things we've read and heard and may you stir us Lord to respond.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we pray this in Jesus' name.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.