Sunday, May 3, 2026, Evening Service

Transcript

SPEAKER_13 0:04

Looking at the book of Acts, the whole soul purpose is we're looking at how the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of those disciples in the book of Acts. What's unique if you look at Acts chapter 1 and their Christ makes it clear that when the power of the Holy Spirit comes on you, you're gonna be my witnesses that we're at? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and choose the ends of the earth. Okay? Keep that in mind because as we've been going through on Sundays and Wednesdays, we've seen where people have gone into Samaria. Okay? And we're just about to see where they're gonna start to the ends of the earth. But there is a problem that we have to think about. All during this period, you've gotten Jews who have become believers, okay, but you still have Jews who are not believers. And there's gonna be a tension on that, okay. We also have to know that when the Father came, when he started calling his children, he called them the children of what? Israel, right? The Israelites were God's chosen people, okay. We know today we use our church words as been as Gentiles have been grafted in. So what we're gonna see tonight is where all of a sudden there is a paradigm shift in the life of the church where they realize that now is the time for them to reach out to the Gentiles to bring them in. God was about to do a massive work. The reason that's important is because when it says you're gonna be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth, in all those places you're gonna find Gentiles. But the majority of the ones that you're gonna find Gentiles, those are gonna be ones outside of Judea, Judea, Samaria. They're gonna be furthermore on the outskirts, okay? So there has to be a paradigmship. Now, the challenge you got to think about is these apostles, these uh folks who are Jews, they've been trained, they know, uh, I say trained, they come up, they know somewhat about the Old Testament, okay? And for them, they want to follow it to the law. That's different for us today, but back then they want to follow it to the law. Okay. Uh, what do I mean by that? Well, the biggest thing, and we talked about this before, is the idea of these dietary restrictions. The Lord set it up, you should eat no unclean animal. You can look at that, there'd be birds, uh uh animals that walk the earth or animals that swam. There's different rules about the way the hooks are set up, there's different rules about if they have scales or not. We're not gonna take the time to look on that, you can go look at that old testament if you want to, but that's there. So you have to remember they have that in mind. So the the disciples are gonna do their best to follow the Old Testament laws to tea. I said before, I'm glad we don't do that today because we'd be able to eat barbecue. It'd be very difficult, sad day for all of us, right? It might be a few pounds lighter, but still it'd be hard for us, right? So let's take a look at what God's gonna do now with Peter, one of the disciples, to recall what he, the one who's a fisherman, wouldn't he the one that's kind of brass? Gets out there and you know, he says, Christ are the Messiah, Son of the Living God. He makes that statement, but then he's also the one who denies Christ three times. Wouldn't he also be the one that cut off the servant's ear? So he he he's kind of zealous, you know, he's gonna do the right thing and hit in his eyes, right? So let's take a look at how God is gonna use him to open up a whole new door for the Gentiles. Okay, now this is gonna be difficult to swallow for those religious people, especially the ones who are following Jesus, because they know the Old Testament because they're thinking you got to follow the Old Testament. So when God's at work, things are gonna change a little bit. Let's take a look at it. Somebody read for me. Let's look at uh Acts chapter 10. We'll start off looking at verses 1 through 8.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

And as a Syria, there was a man, Cornelius, the centurion, and welcome as an Italian religious. He and all his family were the vow being God appeared. He gave generally slate with those of me and prayed to God breaking room. One day, about three night noon he got division. He stinkled me saw an inch of a girl who came to him and said, Cornelius, Cornelius started in the fear, what is it, Lord here? The angel answered your prayers in his support of come up as a memorial offering to young. Now send me the job and bring back a way and make settlement to his call, Peter. He is named the son of the Peter, his house and fall as thief. When the angel bespeaked him, then got him from these cultures of servant, and the bound soldier who was who was one of his attendants. He dumped him everything in Tapon and sent them to Java.

SPEAKER_13 4:50

Alright. Let's give a little background on this. We got this guy named Cornelius. What do we know about Cornelius?

SPEAKER_05 4:59

He's a Turian.

SPEAKER_13 5:01

Okay, so as I said, Turian, he's over a hundred men. You have a Roman thing, you have used a brooks of 600. He's one of the top 60 in that. He's over 100, right? So that's a really big thing, but in the Italian courthouse, uh courthouse, court, co-court, excuse me. Next thing he is a devout man. Who is he devout to? God. How can he be how can he be devout to God if he's not even Jewish? He's a gentile.

SPEAKER_16 5:30

He prayed to God earnestly.

SPEAKER_13 5:32

How's that work? Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit? All right. Somebody take your Bible, look at Romans chapter 1, 3, verse 18, 19, and maybe 12.

SPEAKER_12 5:46

This is important here. Take a look at this.

SPEAKER_15 5:59

Romans chapter 1. Look at verses um 18 through 23.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

The wrath of God has been revealed to heaven against all the godliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth about their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made a claim to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became feeble, and their foolish and their foolish foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became foolish.

SPEAKER_13 7:28

Okay, this particular passage has often been used to talk about people who supposedly have never had the chance to hear about God. When it comes to evangelism, people say, Well, you gotta go tell everybody, but what about the people in the father's tribes that never heard about God? Well, according to this, all men are that excuse that God has made himself known. Okay? That doesn't mean we don't have to stop evangelizing. That doesn't mean that that we suddenly faith will go. But God in his way and his creation, he's made very clear known to who he is. So that's one way that Cornelius would know about God, to be devout to God. Now, other ways, Marlowe, you know, as the activities of Christ are taking place, they didn't keep that a big secret before he got out and around, so he could have heard about it from then. But here's what we need to think about: he is a gentile. And up until now, Christ has been working through the children of Israel to the Jews. The Jews and the Gentiles, did they get along? Not anymore than they had to, all right? There's a little bit of tension between them. The Gentiles, those were unchosen by God. They weren't dirty, they were defiled. All right. But if you look in the old in the Old Testament, Jews, weren't they not supposed to mingle with the other nations? Well, not supposed to marry not supposed to take their privacy, not supposed to take their gods, they were to be set apart. So it would not be normal that a devout Jew would want to hang out with the Gentile, much less be in the same room with them, much less be in their house. Okay? So if somebody who's religious and wants to follow all the rules, all of a sudden, they might get kind of shook up here. Because God's doing something that's above men's religion and man's understanding of religion.

SPEAKER_17 9:26

Then didn't Jesus kind of open the door when he killed the sirophocians' uh daughter, was it the star?

SPEAKER_13 9:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_17 9:33

So he kind of opened the door that the Gentiles was going to have be able to have a part.

SPEAKER_13 9:38

Yep. And you can even go back and look in the genealogy of Jesus and Matthew and see the women that were listed. And some of them, like right now, they were not children of Israel. So yeah, definitely they're wrapped in, yes, in this place. But at that current time, unfortunately, there was this disconnect between the two groups. Okay, so you've got to keep that tension there, that uh national tension between the two groups. Keep that in mind. So, what else do we know about um Pernius? He was uh an army man or a military man who's devout, and not only being devout, showing he feared God, him and not just him and his household, but he was also faithful to give. It says he gave alms generously to people, which is something the Lord's about. And then he also continually prayed to God. Okay, so what happens? He's living his life, he's doing his thing, and about the ninth hour, as Berge Viring has it, it's about three o'clock in the afternoon. It says he has a clear vision of an angel of God that comes to him and calls him by name. Now, when an angel shows up, what does that look like? Okay, many times in the scripture, it's been like a bright shine of the light, right? Almost every time a scripture, an angel shows up. Not only is it a big light, but the person who sees it gets a little bit terrified, a little nervous, right? And depending on who's seeing the vision, the others are so terrified they fall back, right? So this is what happens with Cornelius there. It says in in verse 4, and he stared at him in terror. So the sight of that angel was enough to scare him. And he says, What is it, Lord? Same thing with remember with uh Saul when he was on the road to Damascus, he heard the voice of Saul the bright light, and realized it was the Lord talking to him. He was uh concerned as well. Had the same response, Lord. You know, who is it? And um, here's a response from the angel. Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. In other words, this religious thing you've been doing, guys take note of that. He's noted that. Not because he's just trying to be a religious person, but because he is sincere in his relationship with the God, with as much information he has and knows about God. So God's gonna work through him to get the gospel through the Gentiles. All right. So it says in verse five, and now after he's told them God's taking note of what you're doing, verse five, he says, and now send men to Joppa, and he gets real specific of the details. Bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one who is also called Simon, who is a tanner whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke with him and departed, he called two of his servants and devout soldiers among those who attended. He told him everything and sent him a job. Now, what's going on here? He's heard a vision from the Lord. He's gonna be obedient, he's gonna send some of his servants to go to a specific place, a specific house, and ask for a specific person.

SPEAKER_14 12:59

What's wrong with that?

SPEAKER_17 13:03

Well, they were gentiles going to a Jewish home, right?

SPEAKER_13 13:06

They were gentiles going to meet a Jewish guy named Peter. But what about Simon? Was he a Gentile? Was he Jewish? I would think he's Jewish because people were staying with it. Okay. A tanner, what does the tanner do? Tanner skin, hides, they work with dead animals, and normally dead animals are considered unclean.

SPEAKER_09 13:30

That's right.

SPEAKER_13 13:31

So we're assuming he was now, I don't know if anybody can double check, but what I was reading is I remembered that he was probably a gentile. Probably just where how he happened to stay. Okay, so it's kind of a unique situation. There's nothing wrong with it, it's kind of unique. You wouldn't normally expect that to take place. All right. So what's interesting, the Lord speaks to a good angel and he gives you specific directions. You're gonna go to this city, go to this fast house, and he goes and ask for this uh what's man named Peter, and uh television to bring him back. Okay, now that's how God's at work in Caesarea. Okay, now at the same time, look at how God is at work in the next couple verses in the life of Peter the apostle, who we looked at at the end of chapter nine, and I'll just mention that briefly. Acts chapter nine, the end of it.

SPEAKER_14 14:19

Um chapter in the chapter nine, verse 43.

SPEAKER_13 14:35

Um yeah, this is actually verse 42. Verse 43, he stayed in children for many days with one Simon a tanner. So that's where he was already at. So he's staying with Simon. While he's staying there, all of a sudden the Lord speaks to Camelius. I think, I think it's 30 miles away. Don't quote me on that, I think it's little distance away. He speaks there, and now he's gonna speak to Peter. And listen to what he says to Peter. Somebody read verses 9 uh through 16.

SPEAKER_18 15:13

About noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on Ruth to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into the train. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheep being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, Get up, Peter, kill and eat. Surely not, Lord, Peter replied, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him a second time, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times, and immediately his sheep was taken back to Nebu.

SPEAKER_13 16:14

Okay. So the Lord sends an angel to uh Cornelius. Cornelius is obedient. The next day they're on the way there. About that time, it's about 12 o'clock now. And old Peter, like all of us, gets hungry and he's ready to eat. But he's also a little bit tired. He's upstairs in the top in the balcony area, they call it, um, on the housetop. Um and but now it says here, he goes up there with the purpose to pray. While he's there, verse 10, he gets hungry and he's wanting something to eat. And obviously the people there at the house who prepare him. So while he's waiting on that praying, he falls into a trance. Okay, now we're not talking about he just got sleepy and dozed off. God is going to speak to him directly and give him a message that will change the entire church. Look what it says in this transit, verse 11. He sees what the heavens open, and it's so hard to describe, he says it's light using a medical like or master, right? So it says here, and the heavens open is something like a great sheep coming down and ascending, being let down by its four corners on the earth. What makes sense they think it looks like a sheep? Hold the four corners, let something down, okay? It says, and in it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. They became a voice to him rise, Peter, eat, and kill. So he's given a specific direction. You're hungry, I'm gonna take care of you right now, rise, eat, and kill. Now, that's not exactly what God had in mind because God knew they're already pictures in Peterson put him downstairs, right? But look at where they're going with this, look at what God's doing. Um Peter's response a religious person, always falling after God, but the same one who denied him three times shows up his religious religiosity, if you will. Listen to what he says. By no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is that is common or unclean. That's kind of giving him credit. He wants to be faithful to what he knows. And what he didn't go to seminary school, I mean, he spent time with Jesus, but it won't like he's trained and the New Testament hadn't been written, he was living, okay? So he's being obedient to what he knows that you're not supposed to do. There's certain animals you're not supposed to eat. So it pretty much tells us that the animals that came down, probably there is a pig in there, okay? Probably so. There's probably some other animals. I mean, there were obviously other animals. I don't know, they were because there's a bunch of elements in there, but he wants to be faithful. But look at God's response. Verse 15, and the voice came to him again, a second time. What God has made made clean, do not call common. In other words, I'm providing for you, take this. God has made a way for this to be yours, and you take it. Happens three times, and then it was taken away. Now, how does he respond to that? He's always been faithful, so what do you mean God's made something clean that the old testament says was not clean? God done something new. Well, God's in the process of doing something new within the church. So look at what had takes place. Somebody read verse 17 through 23.

SPEAKER_18 19:37

Now when Peter downed in himself, what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate and all been asked whether Simon, his surname of Peter, was lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius and said, Behold, I am he whom you seek. What is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius to send here a just man and one that feared God, and a living port among all the nations of the Jews was born by God, thy unfolding angel, to send for thee into his house and hear words of thee. And then he called he them in and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brothers from Joshua accompanied him.

SPEAKER_13 20:45

Alright, so Peter has this vision. He's trying to figure out what that means. And about the time he's trying to ponder that vision, there's a knock at the door. People downstairs answer the knife, and who is it? Well, assembly is the people who Simon, I mean Cornelius had sent. He's having his vision and says, Um, behold, verse uh 17, the men who sent my Cornelius having made inquiry for Simon's house, stand at the gate. They call out and ask whether the Simon who's called Peter was lodging there. While that's taking place, guess what? God's not done talking with Peter. Peter's kind of perplexed, trying to figure this out. And now he gets a unique message. He hadn't been down there. He might have heard the knock at the gate, but that's about it. Okay. Listen to what he's what happens. While Peter, in verse 19, when Peter was planning the vision, the spirit said to him, Okay, we had an angel at the beginning, that's the Holy Spirit telling himself. He said, Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise up, go down, accompany them without hesitation. For I have sent them. So there's a quick clarification. What do you need to do? Three guys are there, go with them, don't hesitate, be obedient. So that's what Peter does in verse 21. It says, Peter went down and said, I'm the one you're looking for. Why are you here? And then uh they said, one of the representatives of Cornia says, uh, Cornish is a material who's up as a God-fearing man who was also well liked by the Jews, was directed by the holy angel to send for you to come to his house, to hear what you had to say. So he invited them in to be his guests. And then the next day they went with him, and some people from Chappa also come to them. Imagine what's going on in life with Peter. Okay. His whole idea of following after the Lord is taking a unique turn because Christ has already ascended to heaven. And here he is getting this vision about these animals that he doesn't think they should eat. God says it's okay to eat them. And then now he's being told, Oh, there's somebody looking for you down there, go to them. And then when he gets down there, they say, Oh, Cornelius is sent for you. He's God fearing, he's like by meaning to Jews, the whole transformation it says. You need to go with him because they want to hear what you have to say. Well, what did Peter have to say? Well, we're gonna read that in a minute. But remember, the Lord always said, I'm gonna give you the words to say. As Peter's obedient to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's gonna guide him with what to say. I doubt he had a playbook written out. He didn't have like sermon notes. But all of a sudden, the bathius start returning his mind. Oh, this message of the gospel that I've shared, you know, in Joppa and other places. Cornus and Caesarea needs to hear about this as well. So we see that he's gonna be obedient and he goes. Somebody read verses 24 through 29, Corey.

SPEAKER_04 24:01

Cornelis could fit in there, and they cover it again. As Peter and the house, for me is making the belt as he can remember. I'm only a man myself. Talking with him, Peter would inside the country and the people. He said that you are all aware that this are lost for a Jesus that he would gym travel to disappear. The guy that showed me that I should not cut any man care of the one queen. So when I was sent for, I came about raising any objections. May I ask why you sent for me?

SPEAKER_13 24:39

Alright. So we see Peter's obedience. He's been walking with God along with Christ long enough to know him to be obedient. Okay? That's what he does. He gets up and he goes down through Cornelius' house. And when he gets there, what does he find? Cornelis, right? But it's not like Cornelius is just sitting in the house and hey, by the time he showed up. What has Cornelius done? Say it again. When he sees him, he falls at his feet. Yeah. Who else was in the room, though? Okay. Cornelius was obedient to sin, like the angel of the Lord had told him to do. And he had enough faith in God to say if God tells him to do something, God's gonna pull through with his part of it. So he sends people knowing that they're gonna be coming back. You do the math, you know, you send them down one day, they're probably not gonna make it back in a day. That's too much of a distance, so it's gonna be another day. So he makes it for the next day of the day after the day that he comes. Cornelius is ready, he's got his people there, right? He's being obedient, knowing, okay, God, you told me to do this, I'm doing it now. I'm counting on you. You know, he could have waited and said, Okay, come stay, and then a couple days later, let's get back together. No, they were ready and waiting. And what happens? Well, real simple. It says verse 24. Cornelius was expecting them, and he called together his relatives of those rooms. And then, like, real important to what Leah said in verse 25, when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. Okay, all of a sudden we got a problem, don't we? Who are we supposed to worship? The one true God, nobody else. Not your mama, not your grandmama, not your favorite preacher, not your favorite football team, not your favorite Christian music singer, you name it. We worship God. Okay, Cornelius is learning. He doesn't understand anything there's to know about God. All he knows is an angel said to go get this person. This person got something to tell you. So he's gonna give reverence to this person, and the way he did it was probably not the best way to do it, obviously. Because what what was the response? And Peter in verse 26, he says, uh Cornelius lifted up so Peter lifted him up saying, Stand it up, I too am a man. Okay, that's important because Peter is doing the work as an apostle. He's going out, he's preaching the word, but he's human just like everybody else, which means he's a sinner just like everybody else. So I always say, don't put the preacher on the pedestal, they're human just like everybody else. You know, we come the Lord's house of worship. Um, but if something happens and the pastor leaves, that's no reason for everybody else to leave. You're not coming because of me, you're coming because you want to worship the one true God. I just have to be the one that's in place here to do that. If we put our faith in the pastor and not God, then that's called idolatry, and God didn't like that. All right. So just remember that. Peter says, I too am a man. And then verse 29, as he talked with him, he went in and then he says other people that he had called in, gathered there, and he says to them, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for Jude associated a visit with anyone of another nation. So he acknowledges the elephant in the room. Well, I'm Jewish and everybody else is Gentile. Okay, that's kind of weird, right? But at this point, he acknowledges that he's learned something very important in the last two days. And what he learned was a lesson that God had shown him for the animals coming down from the sheep, right? This is what he says in last part of 28. But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. Peter made the connection that all men are cre all men are created in the image of God. Okay, it don't matter if you're black, if you're white, yellow, or whatever other skin tones there are out there. It don't matter if you're ugly like some of us are, are burdy, it don't matter if we're diseased, uh physical, whatever, we're all created in his image. We are all valued and loved in his image. We need to understand that, remember that, okay? When we get to heaven, there's gonna be people of all the skin types and all the different previous handicaps and whatever, it's gonna be gone, but we're all gonna be there together worshiping God, okay? As his children those who are believers, so uh not just Jews, okay. So we see this uh verse 29, so verse 29, so it says, So when I was sinned for, I came without an objection. And I asked him, Why have you sinned for me? Okay, now Cornelius is expecting him to give a message. Paul said, uh Peter said, Man, what's the what is it that you why have you sinned for me? What's going on? So somebody read verses 30 through 33 and see the response.

SPEAKER_18 29:28

And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Jacob and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodged in the house of one Simon of Tana by the seaside, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately, therefore, I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now, therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee, O God.

SPEAKER_13 30:18

Alright. So Cornelius gives a Greek testimony of what took place in his life, right? Oh, I have this angel come talk to me. This is what he said. He lays it all out. Once he lays it out, then look what he says in the last part of 33. Now, therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you've been commanded by the Lord. So basically, preach it, brothers, is what he's saying. He put it in today's charts. Bring it, lay it on us, let us hear it. Okay. He had served God, uh Corinas had to get it alongs, but there's so much more he knew he needed to understand. The Lord had told him to get Peter down there to hear, and that's exactly what takes place. So now the ball is back in Peter's court. He's already acknowledged it's okay for him to be there. God says it's okay to be there because God doesn't show partiality. So now, Peter bringed him, preaching. What is it? We're listening. All right, so Peter gets the microphone, if you will, didn't have a microphone with the hand, just kind of sit away saying it. And let's look at what he says in verses 34 and following. Now read some of these. Look at verse 34. So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly I understand that God shows no partiality. But in any, it's gonna be in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Okay, look at that. God didn't show partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him does what is right is acceptable. So does that mean that people that are in the far corners of Guatemala with no electricity in front of water can come and know God and be accepted by God?

SPEAKER_05 32:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_13 32:09

What about the folks in the deserts of South Africa? What about those up in the cold ridge areas of uh Ukraine or Russia or Azerbaijan or wherever?

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Okay, anywhere with the help of the Holy Spirit. Anywhere, right? Even in this country.

SPEAKER_13 32:26

Okay, what about our next door neighbor that sometimes we don't get along with? Anywhere. Everywhere. Okay, what about that next door neighbor, and two doors down there's a different skin color, different culture from us, the same thing, even if they're African American or if it's Hispanic? Love by God the same?

SPEAKER_04 32:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 32:45

How do we know that?

SPEAKER_04 32:47

Because it's embracing various children because it's not a good thing. It's in scripture. We just read it.

SPEAKER_13 32:51

Peter just said it, right? Yeah, okay. So if God says that, we gotta make sure that we do the same thing Peter does, and we get the chance to spread the gospel and share love with everybody. Now it is unique living here in the South, the rural South, that people of different culture types go together. Like the Hispanic Church. They they're you know, they're up in Calvary for their meeting that um they let they meet together. Obviously, there's some cultural issues with the language. Here, you've got people here, they're African American. There's a couple of churches that blend very well together, and others don't, different cultural reasons. But God didn't show partiality, so we're not gonna do that either in our churches. The word brings people together in love and ministry of those who he brings uh to us. So let's take a look. Peter's gonna talk. Let's let's look listen to what he says, verse 36. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. Ye yourselves know what happened around all in Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism of the baptism of the John Paplain, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Verse 39. We are all witnesses of that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. But God raised him on the third day, made him to appear, 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. He commanded us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one anointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead, to tell, excuse me, to him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin through his name. How about that first sermon? That was pretty short. It didn't take me a minute and a half to read it. What if our servants were that short on Sunday? Because that would be interesting, wouldn't it? But look how concise that it is. Okay, that sermon time was not a time for him to give out the whole doctrine of the Trinity or not to explain chapter six of Ecclesiastes. That moment in time that he was given was to share what? The gospel, right? The good news of Jesus Christ. Now that he gave every detail, born of the Virgin Mary, he didn't give all that, but he gave what? He gave what was put on his heart by the Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes, it'll be upon you. You're gonna be my witnesses in all these places, all right? So Peter here is filled with the Spirit. He's not coming with his own words, he's listening to what the Spirit has to say, and he's sharing that. I think that's true for us today. As we live our life, if we come across people we feel led to share, let's share what the Holy Spirit guides us to share. Okay, that's why we need to have this post walk with the Lord. We're talking to Him every day, reading the Word every day. And uh the Lord brings a memory what we need to share parts of gospel and other uh scripture as the Spirit puts on our heart to do so. All right, so that's what he does. He he gives this uh short little sermon, if you will. And the catch to that, the the promise here is at the end. He says to him the prophets bear obedience that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins because of the good preacher, because of the famous preacher, it says there through his name. So the his name, we're talking about the name of who Jesus, right? So there's the gospel message.

SPEAKER_18 36:44

Now it's love, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 36:46

So we get the gospel message is presented, and then the last part of the chapter will finish up with the last four verses. What is the result of his preaching? How is it that God is of work in this Gentile home? Listen to what it says in verse 44. While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. Okay, so basically, everybody who heard it, the Holy Spirit's coming to dwell in them now. Okay, where does the Spirit dwell? Well, number one, wherever he wants to, but he dwells in the lives of his believers, right? So people in that room became followers of the Lord, right? There's more is going to take place, but that's just the personal part of it. Look at verse 45. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. Oh, so God's at work, and now it's not just Jews that can understand who God is and follow after him and do that. Now it's the Gentiles.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

I have the power.

SPEAKER_13 38:04

That's got sound too bad. Good to see you guys tonight. Hope you're doing well. If you've got your Bibles, let's take a look at Acts chapter 10. As you know, we've been walking through scripture, looking at the book of Acts, the whole stone corpuses. We're looking at how the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of those disciples in the book of Acts. What's unique if you look at Acts chapter 1, and there Christ makes it clear that when the power of the Holy Spirit comes on you, you're gonna be my witnesses, and we're at Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Okay? Keep that in mind because as we've been going through all studies and Wednesdays, we're we've seen where people are going in the severity. Okay, and we're just about to see where they're gonna start to the ends of the earth. But there's a problem that we have to think about. All during this period, you've gotten Jews who have become believers, okay, but you still have Jews who are not believers, and there's gonna be a tension on that, okay. We also have to know that when the Father came, when he started calling his children, he called them the children of what? Israel, right? The Israelites were God's chosen people, okay. We know today, if we use our church words as when as Gentiles have been grafted in. So what we're going to see tonight is where all of a sudden there is a paradigm shift in the life of the church where they realize that now is the time for them to reach out to the Gentiles to bring them in. God was about to do a massive work. The reason that's important, because when it says you're giving up witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth, in all those places you're going to find Gentiles. But the majority of the ones that you're going to find Gentiles, those are going to be the ones outside of Judea, uh Judea, Samaria. They're going to be further more than outspirits. Okay. So there has to be a paradigm shift. Now, the challenge that we got to think about is these apostles, these uh folks who are Jews, they've been trained. They know, uh, I say trained, they come up, they know somewhat about the Old Testament, okay? And for them, they want to follow it to the law. That's different for us today, but back then they want to follow it to the law. Okay. Uh, what do I mean by that? Well, the biggest thing, and we've talked about this before, is the idea of these dietary restrictions. The Lord set it up, you should eat no unclean animal. You can look at that and review birds, uh uh animals that walk the earth or animals that swam. There's different rules about the way the hooks are set up, there's different rules about if they have scales or not. We're not gonna take time to live on the link in the Old Testament if you want to, but that's there. So you have to remember they have that in mind. So the the disciples are gonna do their best to follow the Old Testament walls to T. I said before, I'm glad we don't do that today because we'd be able to eat barbecue. And it'd be very difficult, sad day for all of us, right? We might be a few pounds longer, but still it'd be hard for us, right? So let's take a look at what God's gonna do now with Peter, one of the disciples, to recall what he the one who's a fisherman, what he's the one that's kind of brass, gets out there and you know, he says, Christ you're the Messiah, Son of the Living God. He makes that statement, but then he's also the one who denies Christ three times. Wasn't he also the one that cut off the servant's ear? So he he's kind of zealous, you know, he's gonna do the right thing in his eyes, right? So let's take a look at how God is gonna use him to open up a whole new door for the Gentiles. Okay? Now, this is gonna be difficult to swallow for those religious people, especially the ones who are following Jesus, because they know the Old Testament and they're thinking you've got to follow the Old Testament. So when God's at work, things are gonna change a little bit. Let's take a look at it. Somebody read for me. Let's look at uh Acts chapter 10. We'll start off looking at verses 1 through 8.

SPEAKER_04 42:19

He and all his family was about in God there. He gave generously with those and me and pray to go break with him. One day, in Valentine afternoon, he has vision. He escaped me so many jump go to came to him and said, Cornelius, Cornelius, there to do with the winners of Lord yet. The angel answered your prayer supported him up as a memorial offerings and go. Now send me the job and bring back a name and settlement his call peer. He is the son of the team at his house and five seats. When the angel could speak now, they go from the east call to the serpent, and then thou soldier who was one of his attendants. He told him everything that happened and sent them to Jacob.

SPEAKER_13 43:06

Alright. Let's get a little background on this. We got this guy named Cornelius. What do we know about Cornelius? He's a centurion. Okay, so as a centurion, he's over a hundred men. You have a Roman thing, you have usually 600, he's one of the top 60 in that. He's over 100, right? So that's a really big thing within the Italian courthouse, uh courthouse, court, co-corps, excuse me. Next thing he is a devout man. Who is he devout to? God. How can he be how can he be devout to God if he's not even Jewish? He's a gentile.

SPEAKER_16 43:47

He prayed to God earnestly.

SPEAKER_13 43:49

How's that work? Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit? All right. Somebody take your Bible, look at Romans chapter 1, read verse 18.

SPEAKER_12 44:03

This is important. Look at this.

SPEAKER_15 44:16

Romans chapter one. Look at verses uh eighteen through twenty three.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

The wrath of God is being revealed of heaven against all the godliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became fearful, and their foolish and their fool foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became foolish. And birds and animals and reptiles.

SPEAKER_13 45:45

Okay. This particular passage has often been used to talk about people who supposedly have never had the chance to heard about hear about God. When it comes to evangelism, people say, Well, you've got to go tell Leather Bible. What about the people in the Father's tribes that never heard about God? Well, according to this, all men are that excuse that God has made himself known. Okay? That doesn't mean we don't have to stop evangelizing. That doesn't mean that we suddenly faithfully go. But God, in his way, in his creation, he's made very clear and known who he is. So that's one way that Clinius would know about God and to be devout to God. Now, other ways, more and blue, you know, as the activities of Christ are taking place, they didn't keep that a big secret, the word got out and around. So he could have heard about it from then. But here's what we need to think about. He is a gentile. And up until now, Christ has been working through the children of Israel to the Jews. The Jews and the Gentiles, did they get along? Not anymore than they had to, all right? There's a little bit of tension between them. The Gentiles, those were unchosen by God. They weren't dirty, they were defiled. All right. But even if you look in the old in the Old Testament, Jews, weren't they not supposed to mingle with the other nations? Well, not supposed to be in a marriage, not supposed to take their privacy, not supposed to take their gods. They were to be set apart. So it would not be normal that a devout Jew would want to hang out with the Gentile, much less be in the same room with them, much less being in their house. Okay? So if somebody who's religious and wants to follow all the rules, all of a sudden, they're about to get kind of shook up here. Because God's doing something that's above men's religion and man's understanding of religion. Yep.

SPEAKER_17 47:50

So it kind of opened the door that the Gentiles was going to be able to have a part.

SPEAKER_13 47:54

Yep. And you can even go back and look in um the genealogy of Jesus and Matthew and see the women that were listed. And some of them, like Rahab, they were not children of Israel. So yeah, definitely they're grantadine as in his place. But at that current time, unfortunately, there was this disconnect between the two groups. Okay, so you've got to keep that tension there, that uh national tension between the two groups. Keep that in mind. So, what else do we know about um Preneus? He was uh an army man or a military man as devout, and not only being devout, showing he feared God, him and not just him and his household, but he was also faithful to give. It says he gave alms generously to people, which is something the Lord's about. And then he also continually prayed to God. Okay, so what happens? He's living his life, he's doing his thing, and about the ninth hour, as Virgin Mary has it, it's about three o'clock in the afternoon. It says he has a clear vision of an angel of God that comes to him and calls him by me. Now, when an angel shows up, what does that look like? Look at bright shine of the light. Okay, many times in the scripture, it's been like a bright shining light, right? Almost every time in scripture, an angel shows up. Not only is it a big light, but the person who sees it gets a little bit terrified, a little nervous, right? And depending on who's seeing the vision, the others are so terrified they fall back, right? So this is what happens with Cornelius there. It says in verse 4, and he stared at him in terror. So the sight of that angel was enough to scare him. And he says, What is it, Lord? Same thing with remember with uh Saul when he was on the road to Damascus, he heard the voice of Selma Bright Light, and he realized it was the Lord talking to him. He was uh concerned as well. You know, who is it? And um, here's a response from the angel. Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. In other words, this religious thing you've been doing, God has taken note of that. He's noted that, not because he's just trying to be a religious person, but because he is sincere in his relationship with the God, with as much information he has and knows about God. So God is gonna work through him to get the gospel through the Gentiles. All right. So it says in verse 5, and now after he's told them God's taking note of what you do in verse 5, he says, and now send men to Joppa, and he gets real specific of the details. Bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one who is also called Simon, who is a tanner whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke with him and departed, he called two of his servants and a drops soldier from all those who attended. He told him everything and sent him a job. Now, what's going on here? He's heard a vision from the Lord. He's gonna be obedient, he's gonna send some of his servants to go to a specific place, a specific house, and ask for a specific person. What's wrong with that?

SPEAKER_17 51:20

Well, they were gentiles going to a Jewish home.

SPEAKER_13 51:22

What they were gentiles going to meet a Jewish guy named Peter. But what about Simon? Was he a Gentile? Was he Jewish? I would think he's Jewish because Peter was staying with okay. A tanner, what's the tanner do? Skin, hides, they work with dead animals, and normally dead animals are considered unclean. So we're assuming he was now, and I don't think I can double check. What I was reading is I remember that he was probably a gentile, probably, just where how he happened to stay. Okay, so it's kind of a unique situation. There's nothing wrong with it, it's kind of unique. You wouldn't normally expect that to take place. All right. So what's interesting, the Lord speaks to a good angel and he gives you specific directions. You're gonna go to this city, go to this guy's house, and he's gonna ask for this uh one man named Peter, and uh tell the man to bring him back. Okay, now that's how God's at work in Cesarita. Okay, now at the same time, look at how God is at work in the next couple verses in the life of Peter the apostle, who we looked at at the end of chapter nine, and I'll just mention that briefly. Acts chapter nine, the end of it.

SPEAKER_14 52:36

Um chapter in the chapter nine, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 52:50

Verse 43. Um, yeah, this is actually verse 42. Verse 43, and he stayed in Jacob for many days with one Simon a tennis. So that's where he was already at. So he stands with Simon. While he's staying there, all of a sudden the Lord speaks to Cornelius. I think, I think it's 30 miles away. Don't quote me on that. I think it's little distance away. He speaks here, and now he's gonna speak to Peter. And listen to what he says to Peter. So I'm gonna read verses 9 uh through 16.

SPEAKER_18 53:30

About noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up over to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat. So while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheep being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, Get up, Peter, kill and eat. Surely not, Lord, Peter replied, I have never eaten anything impure but unclean. The voice spoke to him a second time, Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times, and immediately the sheaf was taken back to heaven.

SPEAKER_13 54:31

Okay, so the Lord sends an angel to uh Cornelius. Cornelius is obedient the next day, they're on the way there. About that time, it's about 12 o'clock now. And old Peter, like all of us, gets hungry and he's ready to eat. But he's also a little bit tired. He's upstairs in the top of the balcony area, they call it. Um, the house top. Um, and but now it um it says here he goes up there with a purpose to pray. While he's there, verse 10, he gets hungry and is wanting something to eat. And obviously the people there in the house are preparing. So while he's waiting on them praying, he falls into a trance. Okay, now we're not talking about he just got sleepy and dozed off. God is gonna speak to him directly and give him a message that will change the entire church. What is this in this transverse 11? He sees what the heavens open, and it's so hard to describe, he says it's of light using a metaphor like it as all right. So it says here the heavens open is something like a great sheep coming down and ascending, being let down by its four corners on the earth. It makes sense to think it looks like a sheep, holding the four corners, let something down, okay? It says, and in it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. There became a voice to him, rise, Peter, eat, and kill. So he's given specific direction. You're hungry, I'm gonna take care of you right now, rise, eat, and kill. Now, that's not exactly what God had in mind because God later already picks in Peterson put him down the stairs, right? But look at where they're going with this, look at what God's doing. Um Peter's response. A religious person, always spawn after God, but the same one who denied him three times shows up his religiosity, if you will. Listen to what he says. By no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is that is common or unclean. You have to kind of give him credit. He wants to be faithful to what he knows. And what he didn't go to seminary school, I mean he spent time with Jesus, but it wasn't like he's trained and the New Testament hadn't been written, he was living, okay? So he's being obedient to what he knows that you're not supposed to do. There's certain animals you're not supposed to eat. So it pretty much tells us that the animals that came down, probably there was a pig in there, okay? Probably so. There's probably some other animals. I mean, there were obviously other animals. I don't know if they were, there's a bunch of other ones in there. But he wants to be faithful. But look at God's response. Verse 15, and the voice came to him again, a second time. What God has made made clean, do not call common. In other words, I'm providing for you, take this. God has made a way for this to be yours, and you need to take it. Happens three times, and then it was taken away. Now, how does he respond to that? He's always been faithful. So, what do you mean God's made something clean that the Old Testament says is not clean? Has God done something new? Well, God's in the process of doing something new within the church. So look at what takes place. Somebody reads verse 17 through 23.

SPEAKER_18 57:54

Now Peter doubted in himself what decision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius and made inquired for Simon's house and stood before the gate of gold and asked whether Simon, the surname of Peter, was lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius and said, Behold, I am ye whom you seek. What is it called wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius to send to him, a just man and one that feared God, and of living court among all the nations of the Jews, was warned by God, thine only angel, to send for thee into his house and hear words of thee. And then he called he them in and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Jacob accompanied him.

SPEAKER_13 59:02

Alright, so Peter has this vision. He's perplexed, he's trying to figure out what that means. And about the time he's trying to ponder that vision, there's a knock at the door. People downstairs answer the knife, who is it? Well, simply is the people who Simon, I mean, who Cornelius had sinned. He's having his vision and says, Um, behold, verse uh 17, the men who sent my cornelius having made inquiry for Simon's house, stand at the gate. They call out and ask whether the side who was called Peter was lodging there. While that's taking place, guess what? God's not done talking with Peter. Peter's kind of perplexed, trying to figure this out. And now he gets a unique message. He hadn't been down there. He might have heard the knock at the gate, but that's about it. Okay. Listen to what he's what happens. While Peter in verse 19, when Peter was popping the vision, the spirit said to him, Okay, we had an angel at the beginning, that's the Holy Spirit telling himself. He said, Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise up, go down, accompany them without hesitation. For I have sent them. So there's a quick clarification. What do you need to do? Three guys are there, go with them, don't hesitate, be obedient. So that's what Peter does in verse 21. It says, Who went down and said, I'm the one you're looking for, why are you here? And then uh they said, one of the representatives of Cornelius says, uh, Cornelius is a centurion because I thought he was a God-fearing man, who is also well liked by the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house to hear what you had to say. So he invited them in to be his guests. And then the next day they went with him, and some people from Chapa also come to them. Imagine what's going on in the life of Peter. Okay. His whole idea of following after the Lord is taking a unique turn because Christ has already ascended to heaven, and here he is getting this vision about these animals that he doesn't think they should eat, and God says it's okay to eat them. And then now he's being told, Oh, there's somebody looking for you down there stairs, guggling. And then when he gets down there, they say, Oh, Corneus is sent for you. He's God fearing, he's like by meaning the Jews, the whole Jewish nation it says. You need to go with him because they want to hear what you have to say. Well, what did Peter have to say? Well, we're gonna read that in a minute. But remember, the Lord always said, I'm gonna give you the words to say. As Peter's obedient to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's gonna guide him with what to say. I doubt he had a playbook written out, he didn't have like sermon notes. But all of a sudden, it may be it started returning his mind. Oh, this message of the gospel that I've shared, you know, in Joppa and other places. Cornus in Caesarea needs to hear about this as well. So we see that he's gonna be obedient and he goes. Somebody read verses 24 through 29.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:15

The four days arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius Satan and they come together, he's roads of both for each. As Peter ain't the house, or maybe nothing to find this in Roman. The Peter's making given a thing that he said. I'm only a man myself. Talking to me, Peter went inside because of the Lord's gathering of people. He says that you are all aware that it is just our offer. Jesus does even the gentle per disappear. The God that showed me that I should not cut in the main and give care of the red queen. So when I was said for it, I came about raising any objection. May I ask why you said for me.

SPEAKER_13 1:02:56

Alright. So we see Peter's obedience. He's been walking with God's Christ long enough to know him to be obedient. Okay? That's what he does. He gets up and he goes down to Cornelius' house. And when he gets there, what does he find? Cornelius, right? But it's not like Cornelius is just sitting in the house at hand by the time he showed up. What has Cornelius done? Say it again. When he sees him, he falls at his feet. Yeah. Who else was in the room, though?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Lon Peter.

SPEAKER_13 1:03:27

Okay. Cornelius was obedient to sin, like the angel of the Lord had told him to do. And he had enough faith in God to say if God tells him to do something, God's going to fall through with his part of it. So he sends people knowing that they're going to be coming back. You do the math, you know, you send them down one day, they're probably not going to make it back in a day. And that's a little too much of a distance, so it'll be another day. So he makes it for the next day of the day after the day that he comes. Cornelius is ready. He's got his people there, right? He's being obedient, knowing, okay, God, you told me to do this, I'm doing it now, and I'm counting on you. You know, he could have waited and said, okay, come stay, and then a couple days later, let's get back together. No, they were ready and waiting. And what happens? Well, real simple. It says verse 24, Cornelius was expecting them and he called together his relatives and those rings. And then, like real important what Leah said in verse 25, when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. Okay, all of a sudden we got a problem, don't we? Who are we supposed to worship? The one true God, nobody else. Not your mama, not your grandmama, not your favorite preacher, not your favorite football team, not your favorite Christian music singer, you name it. We worship God. Okay? Cornelius is learning. He doesn't understand anything about God. All he knows is an angel said to go get this person. This person got something to tell you. So he's going to give reverence to this person. And the way he did it was probably not the best way to do it, obviously, because what was the response from Peter in verse 26? He says, uh Cornelius lifted up so Peter lifted him up saying, Stand up, I too am a man. Okay. That's important because Peter is doing the work as an apostle. He's going out, he's preaching the word, but he's human just like everybody else, which means he's a sinner just like everybody else. So I always say, don't put the preacher on the pedestal, they're human just like everybody else. You know, we come the Lord's house of worship. Um, but if something happens and the pastor leaves, that's no reason for everybody else to leave. You're not coming because of me, you're coming because you want to worship the one true God. I just have to be the one that's in place here to do that. If we put our faith in the pastor and not God, then that's called idolatry and God didn't like that. All right. So just remember that. Peter says, I too am a man. And then verse 29, as he talked with him, he went in and then he says, all the people that he had called in gathered there, and he says to them, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for Jude to associate a visit with. Anyone of another nation. So he acknowledges the elephant in the room. Well, I'm Jewish and everybody else is Gentile. Okay, that's kind of weird, right? But at this point, he acknowledges that he's learned something very important in the last two days. And what he learned was that lesson that God had shown him for the animals coming down from the sheep, right? This is what he says in the last part of 28. But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. Peter made the connection that old all men are creating all men are created in the image of God. Okay? It don't matter if you're black, if you're white, yellow, or whatever other skin tones there are out there. It don't matter if you're ugly like some of us are, or burdy, it don't matter if we're diseased, uh physical, whatever, we're all created in his image. And we are all valued and loved in his image. We need to understand that, remember that. Okay? When we get to heaven, there's gonna be people of all the skin types and all the different previous handicaps and whatever, it's gonna be gone, but we're all gonna be there together worshiping God, okay? As his children, those who are believers. So uh not just Jews, okay. So we see this uh verse 29. So verse 29, so it says, So when I was sent for, I came without an objection. And I asked him, Why have you sent for me? Okay. Now Cornelius is expecting him to give a message. Paul said, uh, Peter said, What's the what is it that you