Follow Where God Leads | Acts 10:34-48

What does it look like to follow God even when it leads you somewhere unexpected? In Acts 10:34-48, Peter learns that the gospel is for everyone, not just people who look and live like him — and the Holy Spirit falls on people he never expected to include. This is a message about letting go of our assumptions and following where God leads, even when it surprises us.

Scripture: Acts 10:34-48
Series: Living by the Spirit, Following the Way

The Way Church KC is a community of misfits & saints in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City following the Way of Jesus & pushing back darkness — together. Join us Sundays or learn more at thewaykc.church.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome to Sermons from the Way Church KC, a community of listening saints in Kansas City, following the way of Jesus and pushing back darkness together.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Good morning, everyone. Would you all stand for the reading of God's Word? Today we're going to be in Acts 10, 34 through 48, if you want a second to get there. So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout all of Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, 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. And we are witnesses of all 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 and 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. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, 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. For they were hearing them speak in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. This is the word of the Lord. You can be seated.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Well, welcome everyone to the Waychurch KC. My name is Zach. I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here. And uh, if you're new, if this is your first time, second time, something like that, we are a new church plant and we exist to follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together. Um and so when I say we're new, we're coming up on our like two-year anniversary here in uh a little over a month. Yeah, so it's been a fun journey, a fun ride. Um if that's you, if that you're one of those people that's like, hey, I'm new here, uh, welcome. This is what I believe. This is a uh church family that you can plug into. Um what I really feel makes our church special, and maybe I'm a little biased, um, is just that is the family that God's building here. People that you know are a shoulder to cry on in tough times and uh an encouragement when times are good. Um so yeah, we would love to get you connected, to get you plugged in, to get to know you, hear your story, share ours, all that fun stuff. Um one other kind of tidbit of information. Um we had a Galantine's event on Friday. Anyone go? I was there, I was back in Kids Men, um was not participating in the event, but it it looked like it was a really sweet time. Um so I just wanted to give Ashton a shout out for planning that, executing that. Ashton is the hostess with the most this. Um it was a really cool event, it looked really cool. And Cassie provided a lot of decorations and helped out a lot, right? So thank you, Cassie. All right, let's give it up for those two real quick. Did my daughter clap back there? Hey, so we've been in a series through the book of Acts. We've been walking verse by verse through Acts, um, looking at the birth of the early church. And so today we'll be in Acts chapter 10, as Glenn read. And if you have your Bible, you can go ahead and open it to Acts chapter 10, verses 34 through 48. Um, just to kind of recap, our series is entitled Living by the Spirit and Following the Way. Um we really believe like the book of Acts, this is what we as a church are to embody. Um Acts 10, it serves as a huge turning point in redemptive history. Um, Acts 10, it's it's not simply a story about Peter and Cornelius. It's the hinge of the book of Acts. Like you think about a door, there's hinges along the frame, and it opens to a whole new world. And that's kind of what Acts 10 serves as. It's the hinge. Up until this point in the book of Acts, the the gospel has moved outward geographically, but it has remained largely within the Jewish world. Now, for the first time, God openly pours out his spirit on the Gentiles. Now, this isn't something to be taken lightly. This is not some small change that's taking place. This is a tectonic shift in redemptive history. And what I want us to do real quick as we begin today is to kind of zoom out on the book of Acts and uh note the flow that we've seen throughout these first ten chapters. You know, our kind of thematic verse uh has been Acts 1.8. And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in all Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So we're seeing that play out as we go throughout Acts. Acts chapter 2, we see the Holy Spirit fall on the Jews at Pentecost. Acts chapter 8, the gospel now expands to the Samaritans. And then here in Acts chapter 10, the gospel is reaching the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit is falling on the Gentiles. This is this short sort of expansion of the gospel, expansion of the early church is what we're seeing transpire here. This is monumental in the life of the early church. And in many respects, like we're worshiping here today because of what God did in Acts chapter 10. Now, how many of you when you're driving somewhere use a GPS? Yeah? Yeah? How many of you when it's like even somewhere close? Like it's your friend's house that you go to a lot, you still use it. Yeah? Amen. A lot of us. I'm kinda I think I'm guilty of that. Sometimes I put my GPS to get it, GPS on to get here to the church, even though I like know how to get here. But there's a reason for that. So think about this. You like you're driving somewhere, somewhere that you're familiar with, and your GPS, it reroutes you suddenly. Has anybody ever had that happen? Yeah? Maybe you're going on vacation, maybe you're going to your friend's house, maybe you're heading to the church like me. You're on a familiar route, like for me, I'm driving up I-35. And suddenly you're turn you'll told you you're told to take an exit, to turn down a road that you've never taken. Every instinct within you says, This isn't right, this is not the right way, I'm not supposed to go this way, I'm this is where I'm heading. But the GPS sees what you can't. Maybe it's a traffic jam up ahead. Maybe it's a road closure, maybe it's a better way to get where you're going, to get to your destination. That's kind of what God is doing in Peter's life here in this text. He he reroutes Peter from this comfort that he has in Jerusalem to go to Caesarea. Peter, he was, remember, a devout Jew. He's suddenly called to walk into the house of a Roman centurion named Cornelius. This is unthinkable for the tradition that Peter grew up in. This is a divine detour of sorts. And it becomes one of the most pivotal moments for the early church. To refresh us from last week, Cornelius, he was a centurion in Caesarea. He likely commanded about a hundred Roman soldiers. And to again refresh, Caesarea, it was not a neutral location. This was Rome's headquarters in Judea. This was a port city that was built by King Herod to honor Caesar. So there was like statues, there was imperial imagery, there was Roman authority everywhere. And into this city walks a Galilean fisherman named Peter preaching a crucified Messiah who he says is Lord of all. Like, think about it. This wouldn't have been a small act of courage. No, though the only explanation for what Peter's doing here is spirit-filled obedience. Because that's the thing. Sometimes God leads us out of what's familiar, not just to change others, but to change us. Because what we see is like Peter not only is a part of helping God's mission, God's church expand, but he's also going through some inward heart change. Here's our big idea this morning. It's pretty simple this morning. The gospel doesn't stop at your comfort zone. The gospel doesn't stop at your comfort zone. With that, there's three truths that I hope to encourage you with and impress upon your hearts this morning. One, abandon partiality. Two, proclaim the gospel clearly, and three, welcome the Spirit's work. I'll pray and then let's dig in this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us here today to gather together, to fellowship together, to worship together, to sit under the preaching of your word, Lord. God, I pray as we walk through Acts chapter 10 that you would move me out of the way, that you would let your words be made clear. And God, that we would be able to apply these truths to our lives this week. That we would see your gospel clearly, Lord. That we would live our lives on mission. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Would you move in this place? Would you do a work that only you can do? We love you, we praise you. And it's in the mighty name of Jesus. And everybody said, Amen. So as we dive in, let's begin where Peter begins. Not with like a strategy shift of sorts, but a heart level shift. Before God changes the church's mission, he changes Peter's understanding. Point one, abandon partiality. Acts chapter 10, verse 34 and 35, the word says, So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly I understand that God shows no partiality. But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. So this first, this word partiality, it's the same Greek word for favoritism. It comes from a Hebrew idiom meaning lifting the face. So showing partiality, it was based on like looking favorably on people based on their status or based on their appearance. So Peter, he is seeing clearly for the first time that such favoritism, that such partiality, it has no place in the heart of God. In first century Judaism, Gentiles, this is kind of a refresher from last week, but we'll talk about it again. Gentiles were considered unclean. Even a God-fearing Gentile like Cornelius would have been kept at a religious distance. Peter's vision in Acts chapter 10, verses 9 through 16, it wasn't about food only. It was about people. What God has made clean, you must not call impure. That was kind of one of the thematic verses from last week. So what we learn is that God's grace is not bound by ethnicity, it's not bound by geography, it's not bound by socioeconomic class, it's not bound by religious pedigree. No, the the call of God extends to the ends of the earth, to every nation, to every tribe, to every tongue. And so Peter, he's seeing this clearly for the first time in his life. And his words began to begin to match his actions. His words begin to reflect the inward heart change that God brought about just earlier when he received that vision from the Lord. And then verse 35, when Peter says, God accepts anyone who fears him and does what is right, he's not preaching like works-based righteousness. Like that's what I don't want us to hear that. Luke has already shown us that Cornelius still needs the gospel. He still needs to hear the gospel. He still needs to encounter the risen Christ. So this isn't like justification by works. This isn't being made right by our morality, by being good. No, this is evidence of grace preparing the heart for the message of Jesus Christ. Salvation is still undoubtedly by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. So what are we to do with these first two verses here? Well, I think that first we must repent of subtle biases we may carry, whether that's in our workplace, whether that's what we bring into the church house, whether that's cultural, whether that's racial, whether that's class-based, whether that's political, whatever that is. Like let's repent of these subtle biases that can hold us down. And like for us as a church, if we're being real, maybe we should examine how we do church. Are we making room for outsiders? I think personally, I feel that we do a pretty good job, but there's always room for improvement. Are we building our own little silo? Like, hey, it's grace for me, but not for thee. Are we building our own little kingdom? My hope is that we aren't and that we never will. My hope is that the WKC is always a place for the outsider that's a place that's not marked by partiality. But it's it's important for us to continue to look at these things. So, and we can take that into our evangelism as well. We must evangelize without filters. We we don't pre-decide who is open to the gospel. God does the work, God brings the fruit. Has anybody ever been in the car sales business? I have not. No? Okay, my friend, my new friend back there. So I wasn't in the car business, but I was in the fundraising world, and like they're kind of similar, if we're being real. That's another story for another day, though, Roman. Um but one thing we said in the fundraising world was uh not to pre-qualify potential supporters. So we don't assume whether they can support the mission of this nonprofit or not. And in the you ever hear of that in the car sales business? So you don't pre-qualify a potential buyer, you don't say, hey, they can't afford this car, or hey, they can't afford this car. Well, in a similar sense, like that's how we should look at our evangelism. We're not saying, hey, that person is worth the grace of God and this person's not, or hey, that person's ready to receive the grace of God and this person's not. No, like God does the word, God brings the fruit. It's our job just to simply plant seeds. And that's what Peter's doing here. That's what Peter's beginning to understand. So once Peter understands that God shows no partiality, he does not stop there. He doesn't just stop with this new kind of truth that he's learned, this new principle that he's learned that's been impressed upon his heart. No, he moves into proclamation. Because what he finds out is that if God welcomes all, then all must hear about Christ. Which brings us to point number two. Proclaim the gospel clearly. Proclaim the gospel clearly, Jevin. Acts chapter 10, verse 36 through 43, the word of God says, As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happens throughout all Judea. Beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John proclaimed, 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, and we are witnesses of all 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 and made him to appear, not to all pe all the people, but to us who have 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 he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. So verse 36, it kind of defines what the gospel is for us. It is good news of peace through Jesus Christ. And then Peter, he goes on to say that this Christ, he is Lord of all. Can you imagine that sort of like entrance, the entrance that Peter makes into this Gentile house? Lord of all. That's a huge statement. The phrase Lord of all, it would have pierced the Roman ears. Remember, they're in the midst, they're embedded in this deep Roman culture. And to them, Caesar was Lord. Caesar was the only Lord that they knew. Caesar was the only Lord that they bowed to. And Peter, he's subverting Roman imperial power by declaring that the crucified Messiah is the king of all nations, is the Lord of Lords. He is boldly declaring that Christ alone is Lord of all. And he points out in verse 37 that they know it. This isn't something new. They've seen these things. He's saying, like, hey, this story that I'm telling you, I'm not making up. You've heard about what happened in Jerusalem. You you yourselves know what happened is the language he uses. And then he gets right into his message of proclamation. It's clear, it's direct, it's cutting. And his his message, his good news of peace message that he's preaching, it's stunningly simple. Verse 38, he says that Jesus lived in power. Verse 39, Jesus died in shame. Verse 40, Jesus rose in victory. Verse 41, Jesus then appeared to chosen witnesses. Verses 42 and 43, Jesus is now ruling as judge and savior of all. It's a simple, clear gospel presentation. Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose from the grave for the forgiveness of our sins. Notice what Peter does not emphasize. He's not talking about church growth strategy. He's not talking about moral reform. He's not giving a cultural commentary on everything that he disagrees with about what's going on in Rome at the time. It's not a self-help talk, it's not a pick yourself up by the bootstrap sort of talk. No, he simply preaches Christ crucified and risen. And if we're being honest, family, I think that's the only message we need. That's the only message we need. God. Christ will build his church. Christ will bring about moral reform that flows out of an encounter with Christ. Christ will make all things new in our culture. Christ will pick us up by the bootstraps. So if we're to proclaim the gospel clearly, all we need is the words of Christ. Christ crucified, Christ risen for the forgiveness of our sins. I think so often we can overcomplicate it, right? Like, hey, I gotta have all the right answers. I gotta know every verse in this Bible. But the fact of the matter is we're simply to plant seeds. God brings the harvest. All that's asked of us is to be faithful. And that's the thing. The gospel is an announcement before it is instruction. The gospel is proclamation. So are you proclaiming, family? Are you proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life where you live, where you work, and where you play? I was so encouraged last December or this past December, we were at uh we had our little family business meeting, voting on budget and all that sort of stuff. And I posed the question, I was like, how many of you have shared the gospel in the last week? And I would say like 95% of the hands in the room raised them and said, like, hey, yeah, I've shared the gospel in the last week. Like that should be an encouragement to us. Let's keep doing That. Let's keep sharing and proclaiming the gospel clearly. Amen. What's interesting is this this is the only sermon in Acts where Peter speaks to a Gentile audience. You know, Paul goes on to be the missionary to the Gentiles, but Peter he opens the door. Peter, he doesn't water down the message, he centers it on Christ's work and he demands a response of faith. And what's important for us to note is what's happening here in Acts 10, this is nothing, yes, it's like a new work, but it's not like it's not innovative. It's not something that if we were, if they were in tune with the scriptures, wouldn't have seen coming. What this is is fulfillment. You look back to Genesis chapter 12. God promised Abraham that through his offspring all nations would be blessed. This is all nations being blessed, coming to fruition. And then in the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, he said that the servant, the servant being Jesus Christ, would be a light to the Gentiles. So Acts 10 is not God changing his mind, being like, hey, I'm gonna open my arms to these people too. No, it is God keeping his promise from the beginning. And ultimately what we see is like the sufficiency of Christ and the exclusivity of Christ. Verse 43 says, Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. That's not a everyone who is very kind receives forgiveness of sins. That's not a everyone who does X, Y, Z receives forgiveness of sins. No, it's simply everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. So a relationship with Christ is both exclusive and it's also sufficient. That's all you need. That's all you need. So the encouragement for us should be that wherever we live, wherever we work, wherever we play, that we should preach Jesus boldly. Because it is resurrection for the dead, it's life for the dead, it is sight for the blind, it is freedom for the captive, it is light for those in the darkness. And when we share the gospel, when we proclaim Jesus clearly, like all we got to do is get to Jesus. That's it. We don't need to focus on all these like tertiary things. Like, just talk about Jesus, man. Jesus Christ will pierce their hearts. The Spirit will do a convicting work in their lives. And so with that, as we consider evangelism, as we consider what it looks like to proclaim the gospel clearly, I think the question to ask ourselves is this Is Jesus Lord over all? Is Jesus Lord over all things in your life? Is Jesus Lord of all in your life? We must live as if Jesus is Lord in our families, in our finances, in our future, in our jobs, in our retirement, in our places that we go for fun, in our gym, in our coffee shops, whatever it is, not just Sundays. Is Jesus Lord over your life throughout the week or just on Sundays? So what's going on here as we transition to our third and final point is is Peter he's still speaking? He hasn't given an invitation, he hasn't organized a response. He doesn't have like, hey, I tapped this guy ready to come up and respond to the Spirit. And suddenly what happens is the Spirit of God falls. In a moment's notice, the Spirit falls. And God Himself confirms what Peter has just proclaimed. Bringing us to point number three. Welcome the Spirit's work. Point three is welcome the Spirit's work. Verse 44 through 48. The word says, While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 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. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. So this, in a sense, is the Gentile Pentecost. This is the Holy Spirit falling on the Gentiles. The same Spirit who fell in Acts chapter 2 now fills the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10. Without circumcision, without temple rituals, without human permission, the Spirit interrupts Peter's sermon to confirm God's work. Again, a little bit of a refresher. For generations, circumcision had marked the covenant people. Dietary laws guarded the holiness of God's people. Temple boundaries, they reinforced this separation. And in one afternoon, the Spirit falls on the Gentiles without any of it. This wouldn't have been just surprising. Like, yes, it would have been surprising, but so much more. It would have like completely altered everything that these people had grown up believing and knowing. It was destabilizing. And verse 45 shows us that the Jewish believers are amazed because this breaks every single category that they know. For generations, access to God was tied to being Jewish. Now God is rewriting these boundary lines. And I just love this story because Peter didn't give an altar call, he didn't orchestrate the moment, the lights didn't dim low, the fog machine didn't start blowing smoke. Like there was no pomp and circumstances about it. There was no performance about it. It was simply the preached word, the gospel proclaimed clearly, and the spirit falls. And the spirit fell while he was still speaking. Like he didn't say, hey, I'm about to land the plane now, and you know, then we're gonna close and Ashley's gonna come up and close us in song. No, that's not how it went down. Like he's preaching spirit falls. Boom. A move of the Spirit is ultimately God's work. It's not ours. May we never be a church that tries to manufacture a move of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not wait for human permission to move. The Spirit goes where he wants to go. And so I think it's okay for us to pray for a move of the Spirit. It's okay for us to long for revival. Like we're spending a hundred days praying for revival in Kansas City. I think that's perfectly okay. But we must realize and know that it's God who brings that work. It's God who does that work. That's God's business. Our job is simply to be faithful and to glorify Him. And as we are faithful, should God choose to move and blow the wind of His Spirit upon this church and upon this city, we're ready. We've been waiting faithfully. We're ready to join him in the work that he's already doing. Couple other things to point out. This the word for poured out, how the God pours out his spirit in this verse, it links directly to Joel's prophecy. Acts chapter 2, verse 17, just to look back at it, reads, And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. So a couple things to point out. Like, we are living in the last days. We don't know the hour. Um that's not what I think the this uh verse in Acts 2 is saying. But from the moments that Christ ascended until he returns, those are the last days. So we're living in the in-between, we're living in the last days. And the second thing we see is that God's promise is for all flesh. So the prophet Joel, all the way back in his time, was already alluding to this inclusion of the Gentiles. And then as the Spirit fell in Acts chapter 2, it was already alluding to this inclusion of the Gentiles. Genesis 12, like all the way back in the beginning, there was an allusion to this inclusion. So it's not a new story, it's the same story of old that's been told for generations upon generations. So spirit falls, and then what follows is baptism. That's what happens in this text. Baptism follows the outpouring of the spirits. This is publicly affirming the Gentiles' inclusion in the covenant community. And it's important for us to note that like baptism here. It doesn't create their salvation. It doesn't like, you know, hey, they're already saved. They're not being baptized for salvation. What their baptism is doing, and what baptism does is it confirms it. It's an outward sign of an inward reality that the Spirit has done. The church is recognizing what the Spirit has already accomplished. So that's the story of the Gentiles being welcomed into God's family. So for us, what are we to do with this text? I think first it's like, hey, it's important that we don't put God in a theological box. That we be ready for the Spirit to work in places or people you don't expect. I think secondly, like if God welcomes someone by his spirit, we best not withhold fellowship. Like, who are we to withhold fellowship from someone that God's spirit indwells? I think for us as a church, we must be a church that leaves room for the mess. Here's what I mean. Like, spirit spirit-led, spirit-infused growth is never tidy, it's never neat, like a lot of times. When you're on the front lines, when you're in the trenches doing ministry, it's messy, and that's okay. So we must be a church that's cool with the mess. I have this quote that Janet said one time that's written somewhere. I write down little quotes that people say or that I read in the back of my Bible. This is Janet Rickard right here. The church should be a hospital for hurting people, not a museum for perfect people. Amen. That's what we're talking about. The church should be a place for the messy. Amen. So we must ask ourselves like, who would feel uncomfortable walking into our church? Like, I think we're a pretty dang welcoming church. I think that's really cool. I want us to continue doing that, but we're gonna continue to harp on these things. One, because this is what the text is spelling out for us, but two, because I think it's important for us as a church family. So here's another way of phrasing it. Like, what uh Cornelius, who's the Cornelius that God might be preparing for you to preach the gospel to clearly right now? So the question, family, actually, you can go ahead and come up and close this in song. The question is not whether God is saving outsiders. That's not a question. That's a foregone conclusion. God indeed does save outsiders. The question is, are we willing to sit at the table with them once he does? Are we willing to sit at the table with him once he does? I can't read this and help but think about like what it must have looked like. Like, can you imagine the early church potluck after this happened, Roman? Roman loves potlucks. Like, think about it. Jews and Gentiles at the same table, former enemies, are now brothers and sisters. They're fellowshipping together. They're now doing life together, they're breaking bread together. And that's the thing. That's just what the gospel does. That's just what the Holy Spirit does. That's what welcoming the Spirit's work into a people looks like. That's what grace looks like. It's diverse, it's messy, and it's beautiful. So Peter, he didn't just preach. No, he stayed. Like we can't forget about that last verse in chapter 10. Verse 48. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so they're baptized. And then the second sentence there. Then they asked him to remain for some days. So he didn't baptize them and then peace out. Like no, he stayed. He spent some days, he remained with them for some days. He stayed in a Gentile's house. That was radical. He likely broke bread with them, he conversed with them. Like, imagine the conversations that they must have gotten into. He Peter he he crossed a line that he could not cross. He he reached the point of no return. There was no going back after Peter is dining with the Gentiles. That's radical grace. That's radical love. That's a man who has been deeply encountered by the risen Christ. And maybe you're sitting here this morning and you're still thinking, like, ah, I don't know, like maybe this is for me. Maybe this sort of radical grace for me is for me. Maybe I maybe I need to abandon partiality, or hey, maybe that person needs to abandon partiality, but not me. Or maybe you're sitting here thinking, like, eh, maybe I need to proclaim the gospel clearly. Or maybe you're thinking, like, hey, nah, somebody else is gonna proclaim the gospel. Or it's like, hey, maybe you're sitting here thinking, maybe I need to welcome the Spirit's work. Well, can I just have permission to burst your bubble real quick? I gotta keep his permission. He speaks for all of us. The fact of the matter is, is that that's just what Jesus did for you. Right? We are at enmity. There is a divide with God and us because of our sin. And Jesus Christ crossed that line. Jesus, he crossed the greatest divide. He took on flesh, fully God, took on flesh, fully God, fully man, and bore our sin. And he rose from the dead so that we could be welcomed into God's family. So Peter ain't doing nothing new. He's just doing what Christ has done for all of us. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14, the word says, For he himself, he being Jesus Christ, is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. So Christ in his flesh broke down the dividing wall of hostility between us and God. And he's broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile. That's what Jesus does. He breaks down walls. He breaks down walls of hostility. And what he's doing today, and until the end of time, is he's building a new humanity, new heavens, new earth, new creation. The dividing wall in the temple that separated Jews from Gentiles, it's been demolished in Christ. So Acts 2, Acts 10 is showing it from a historical lens, and that verse that I just read from Ephesians 2, it explains it like theologically and in a way we can understand. So the fact of the matter is that Jesus is not merely saving individuals. He's in this text, he's not merely saving Gentiles. No, he's creating a new people, a new humanity, the family of God. So it's like the call is simple, family. It's costly, but it's simple. Go where God sends, love whom God loves, welcome whom God welcomes, and speak the name of Jesus without hesitation. The fact of the matter, the greatest divide was not Jew versus Gentile. The greatest divide is holy God and sinful humanity. And Jesus, he crossed that divide. So if he was willing to cross heaven to earth for you, will you cross the street for someone else? Meditate on that this morning as we close in song. Let me read one more verse over you. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 and 21. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you. We thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for sending your son Jesus to break down the dividing wall of hostility. Thank you that because of what Christ has done, we are welcomed into your family now. That we have been adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God. And that we have an inheritance along with Jesus to be in your family, to reap all the things that He has been given. Holy Spirit, we need you. We long for you. Would you do a work in our hearts? Would you do a work in this people, Lord? We love you, we praise you, and it's in the mighty name of Jesus I pray. And everybody said, Amen.

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