Written Off | Matt Shetler

Acts 10

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Well, I've invited Noelle Shear, our worship director, to come up and read our scripture for the morning.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Oh, 12.

unknown 0:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

All right. This is a full story. So I want you guys to imagine the Middle East. Imagine you've probably seen movies back set in this time, kind of adobe houses, people go up on their roofs to stay cool, to sleep at night. These are the scenes that you have. If you are a better listener without distraction with closing your eyes, feel free to do that. And I'm going to read from Acts 10. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day, at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said, Cornelius. Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it, Lord? He asked. The angel answered, Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. About noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet 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 the sheet was taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon, who was known as Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you, so get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. Peter went down and said to the men, I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come? The men replied, We have come from Cornelius the Centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say. Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. Stand up, he said, I'm only a man myself. While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them, You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me? Cornelius answered, Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He's a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea. So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to the everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. Then Peter began to speak. I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen, by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God has appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles, for they heard them, speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Awesome. Thank you, Noelle. So let me ask this question. What kind of person do you think is interested in Jesus? Like when you think about like what kind of person would actually be interested in Jesus or religion or church, like what comes to mind? When you walk into a room, maybe at work or a classroom, at school, wherever you are, or maybe just in your own mind, you kind of think about like what's the kind of person who would actually maybe visit a church or like go, who is Jesus? Maybe in your mind it's like an older person, or maybe it's a younger person, maybe it's someone that's more conservative or more liberal. Maybe it's an educated person or less educated, man or woman, young or old. I know if you're a follower of Jesus, if you consider a Christian, you've probably thought about this before. And you probably do without even thinking about it, because you sort of filter out how do I talk about my faith? How do I talk about life with God? How do I talk about what I did this weekend if I'm a church? Like who feels like safe to tell about that? Or maybe it's a little more. It's like we think about, man, my faith has impacted me. I want to share that with others, but who would actually want to hear that if I invite them to? You're kind of thinking about those sort of things, right? Like what person seems like they would be open and interested? And if people that you don't think, you go, well, I'm I'll just kind of like they're doing their own thing, and they just probably wouldn't be interested, anyways. For others of us who maybe might not consider ourselves yet a follower of Jesus, don't really know what we believe, it impacts us differently. Because depending on who you think is interested in Jesus or Christianity, it might actually make Jesus more or less credible to you, actually. Like if you can relate to them or respect them, then that's like in the plus column, right? You're like, okay, I trust them, like they're respectable. And so maybe I could consider Jesus. Maybe Christian faith is not that crazy. Or if the people that you see that are following Jesus, maybe you're here this morning and you're like, I'm looking around and I don't think I could relate to any of these people. Or maybe you just know your own past or your history and go, man, not me. Not me. I could never do that. But here's the thing is that in our culture today, it's pretty surprising what research and studies show of people's actual interest in Jesus. Recently, and there was a survey done, and it says that 77% of teenagers say during their lifetime they want to keep learning more about Jesus. Like that's someone that they want to learn more about throughout their entire life. Millennials, and that's I'm like the oldest millennial, so that's 45 and like younger, in Gen Z are reading the Bible more now than they have. Half of millennials now say they read their Bible every week. And Gen Z jumped from 30% to 49% in just one year stating they read their Bible every week. And do you know who the generation that attends the church the most frequently per month? Gen Z as well. They're the most frequent church attenders every month, especially young men are leading the way. And you go, that's not who I would have guessed. That's not who I would think would be filling up churches most weeks. But here's this other stat that I found really interesting is that you know that in almost almost three out of ten people who don't call themselves Christian would say that they've made a personal commitment, though, to following Jesus. Of all the years they've done the study, this is the highest ever. People who say, I don't call myself a Christian, and yet there's a relationship with Jesus that I think is really important that I have. These are people that maybe would never check a box, might not ever show up here on a Sunday, or maybe not very often. Maybe you say that too. You're like, I have this connection with Jesus, but I don't really know about church. I don't really know if I'd call myself a Christian. But what we're seeing is that people are reaching for Jesus. These folks are reaching for maybe that's you. You're like, I don't really know what I believe, but like for some reason I've kind of gone, like, what does the Bible say? Like, who is this person of Jesus? But it's not just right now, it's not just in this current uh context of our world and time period. It's always been the case. The categories change, but it's always been the case that somehow Jesus draws people that others don't expect. Jesus draws people that are in categories that we don't expect that he'll draw, that we'll be interested, or maybe that we think that maybe Jesus wouldn't be interested in. But what we find when we look at the Bible, when we look at even the history, last 2,000 years of Christianity being around is that these stories of unexpected people encountering the love of God, the life with God that's changed them from the inside out, happens over and over again. In this summer, we've gone through the book of Acts. It's the story of the first Christians from when Jesus rose from the dead and goes to heaven, and the first Christians following on after that. And this week we're in Acts chapter 10, and it's the story of a man, you just heard it, that nobody expected would want to follow Jesus. And the apostle Peter, who wouldn't have picked him if he had the choice. So why do I say that? Well, let's look closer at who Cornelius was, the one you wouldn't expect. So in verse 1, it says, At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian regiment. So let's zoom out first before we look specifically at Cornelius as a person and go, what category of person was he? And how would Jewish people like Peter have thought about him? First, Cornelius isn't Jewish, he's a Gentile, which is anybody who's not Jewish. And that's the first problem. And we might think that's not a huge deal. But for the first century, that's a huge deal. That's a huge deal. Peter even tells Cornelius in verse 28 that we read, he said, You are well aware that it's against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. So it is like deeply ingrained that we don't associate with or visit with people like you. No faithful Jew would enter the house of a Gentile, even more so, sit at a table and share food to receive hospitality from them. It was an incredible port violation. A Gentile was considered to be outside of relationship with God. Like there were walls, there were barriers, and Gentiles were just simply on the outside. There just wasn't an invitation from them for most Jews when they thought about it. So much so that in the Jewish temple, their center of worship in Jerusalem, there was a court called the court of the Gentiles, where people like Cornelius could go, but then past that only Jewish people could go, and there was a sign that said, essentially, our translation today would be no trespassing, or you will be executed. You'll be killed. You can't come in here. Because that was where God really was. And you are just in a category where God does not accept, that God does not welcome. It's why the Apostle Paul, in the scripture that I read today for communion, talks about this wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles. And let me just ask this question: if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, or maybe not, who are people for you, maybe, that you have a wall of hostility between? Or groups of people, categories of people where you just notice there is like this wall of hostility. And you just you feel it when you're around this person or these types of people, and you're just like, can't cross that bridge. Like, just no way. Do you know that the gospel, the good news of Jesus, isn't just about healing our relationship with God, but healing our relationship with one another? Not just one another, like your spouse or your best friend you have a tiff with. It's like between people where there's a chasm, a wall of hostility. And this morning, I think maybe to ask that question, where is a wall of hostility between us and others? But here's what we need to note is that this wasn't God's original intent. When you read the Old Testament, that's the part before Jesus comes to earth. It wasn't God's original intent for there to be this wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile. But over centuries, the Jewish people had developed traditions that made this divide wider and wider until it seemed impassable. And here's the deal, though. So that's just Gentiles. But Cornelius, he's even worse. He isn't a neutral Gentile, he is the captain of the occupying army of their nation. So the Jewish people used to have their own nation and then they got taken over by lots of people. But at that point, it's the Romans, the Roman Empire. And so they were overtaken by the Roman Empire, this occupying force. And Cornelius is someone who made that happen and who kept that in force. I'm confident that in his past there were some things that he wasn't super proud of that he had done. And at the time, the Jewish people and their land were ruled by them. And so there was a shame that the Jewish people felt that their land, that they weren't free. And so they felt even more like there had to be this dividing wall between them and everyone else. So much so that the Apostle Peter, right? We see the Apostle Peter here, and he had, uh if you were with us on the journey, in the beginning of the book of Acts, God like completely transforms Peter, and he like becomes a different person, and he preaches to all these people and they give their life to Jesus, and he's like traveling around boldly, declaring how good God is and how much God has forgiven us. And yet Peter needs God to break in through a vision just to get him to think that someone like Cornelius could ever be in relationship with Jesus. So in the story, Peter's hungry, right? We read about Peter's hungry, he goes to pray, he goes on top of the house, you know, just these normal everyday things. He's like going to pray, he's hungry. And while he's hungry, God's like, hey, I'm gonna use this hunger to talk to you about food. And he gets this vision of this uh sheet, this blanket lowered down. And on this sheet, there's all these things. Some food that would have been considered clean for the Jewish people to eat, and some that would have been considered unclean. You know, you've heard of kosher foods, so things that were kosher and not. And on this blanket covered with animals, and God tells Peter to eat. Now, if you know much about the Bible, Peter is known for these bold statements, usually made in the wrong times and saying the wrong things. He's got like one really great one where he says, Jesus, you're the Messiah. But otherwise, most of the things Peter says are off the mark. And so Peter says to get God in this vision, which of course makes sense you say this to God, surely not, Lord. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean, which is classic Peter. When Jesus says he's gonna be killed, Peter says, Never, Lord, this will never happen to you. Jesus attempts to wash Peter's feet, and Peter says, No, you shall never wash my feet. And when Jesus says that all the disciples will leave him the night he's gonna be betrayed, Peter says, I never will. I will never disown you. Right? I don't know about you, but in our house we try to say, let's not say never always, right? Peter's a big never always guy. He says, I'm not gonna do that, no way. And literally every time the things that he says no to happen. God has to tell Peter three times that just this food that you think is unclean can be clean. And Peter finally gets it. So when in the story, when these men come from Cornelius and say, Peter, come with me, he finally gets it. He's like, Whoa, okay, I think there's a connection here. There's a connection between like just not just food that you say that's clean that I've said is unclean, but it's actually this is bigger than food. This is people. This is people that I've labeled as unclean. That God, you're saying, if you say they're clean, who am I to say they're unclean? So Peter says in verse 28 and 29, but God has shown me that I shall not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. Can I just pause for a moment and say, there is no category of person who can be is excluded from the invitation of grace by Jesus. There's no category, there's no like this type of person, this race, this ethnicity, this political, whatever thing it is, there's no category that says you don't have hope, you don't have a chance, you can't come that close. There's no past, there's no record that says, no, you're out. Sorry, sorry, sorry. There's no label that makes you outside the reach of God. I was thinking about an interaction I had with a friend a few years ago. I think maybe I've shared this story once before, but he's a really good guy, really good guy. And we've known each other for several years, never once brought up like relationship with God. We'll talk about church, maybe because he knows I'm a pastor. But we were sitting around this fire pit, just he and I catching up, and I was talking about the church. And and honestly, I don't think I was talking about anything super spiritually deep. And he just goes to me, he says, I wish I had faith like you. I was like, uh, um, okay, cool, man. Uh, tell me, Class is a great thing to say when you don't know what to say. Tell me more about that. Anytime someone says something that catches you off guard, like, tell me more about that. Right, Christine? Is that a good therapeutic? Uh yeah, tell me more about that. You're like, ah, this. So, and he just begins to tell me, like, what he's seen in my faith, and then his own personal struggles and the questions, you're like, oh, this guy thinks a lot about this. He thinks a lot about faith and spirituality. Because he has a whole list of reasons why he doesn't why he just feels like he can't. I didn't expect that. I've been praying for him, but I didn't see any spiritual interest. I didn't have him in a category of someone that's like, you know what he's gonna ask me tonight is I wish he had faith like I do. He seemed completely uninterested. He'd always been polite talking about me, talking about my job. But that was kind of it. And this is just like Cornelius. Cornelius to Peter would have just been some guy. Some guy, not just some guy, some like evil guy. Some guy in an oppressive army. Like, who would have never been a possibility? And yet, Cornelius had been praying. Cornelius had been seeking God and asking questions. So let me ask you this question. Who have you maybe written off? Who in your life have you maybe written off and said they would never want to hear about my life with God? They would never want to hear about like my own spiritual journey. Who have you written off if you consider yourself a Christian? Probably quietly written off, maybe out loud. Peter had already decided who that was for him, what category of people. And it took God breaking in to change it. I told a story last week about a couple that we got to pray for on our vacation, and they're in their early 20s. And part of the conversation that we had was just they were talking about friends of theirs in that same age group and demographic of early 20s. And they were just saying how, man, everyone's like hungry for truth. Like there's like so many options out there floating, things that can make you happy, things that could give you life and meaning and purpose. And they're just like wanting something to hold on to. And this was like this couple that she was, she would say she's a follower of Jesus. He's like, I don't know what I believe. But there's like all of our friends are just like, maybe God, maybe church could be that thing. But they're asking these questions. There's hunger for truth, there's spiritual hunger. I think so often we just have types of people, people how they maybe, maybe it is, and that we wouldn't want to be this honest, but it's how someone looks, it's how someone talks, it's what someone does, and we go, ah, they probably haven't given a thought to faith. But we can find ourselves writing people off who actually are asking the big questions, who are actually maybe praying. You know, there's that scripture verse that I love. It says, um, it talks about like people who are disconnected from God, and it says, the harvest is plentiful, meaning like there's lots of people who are hungry for God. But the people, the workers, the people who would go and actually tell them or actually show them the love of Jesus are few. It doesn't say it's the other way. There's a lot of people who want to show the love of Jesus, but not many people care. That's not how it goes. But here's the other side of the story that really captured me this week is we need to see with Cornelius, Peter was surprised that he would be interested in God. But when we read this story, when I read this story, it doesn't surprise me though. It's like, here's Cornelius. He prays all the time, he gives to the poor, he's devout, he's respected by all the people in his community. If there was anyone that I thought, this is a good dude, this is a great guy, of course he'd want a relationship with God. Of course, God would accept him, right? Because we don't have that Jew-Gentile divide, you know. And so when we read it, we go, he's pretty great. He's the kind of person that if I thought he didn't have a relationship with God, I'd be like, hey man, you're a good dude. You should come check out church sometime. It's like it's already believes the same thing you believe a little bit, cares about the same things you care about, like, you know, just a lot of good people. He's a really good man. But here's the thing about Cornelius is that even though he wasn't a Jew, he was devout, he did all these things, but being devout and God-fearing for him, here's what it meant. It meant he could come to like a place like this, let's say, like a synagogue for the Jewish people, and he could hear the scriptures read and he could hear the prayers prayed, and he could learn all that he wanted to learn, but he could never be fully in because he didn't fit the mold. He wasn't Jewish. And so at the temple, he couldn't offer a sacrifice of worship. He couldn't like, he couldn't give offerings or or worship that way. He couldn't receive forgiveness in the same way. So he was like halfway in, halfway out. And culturally for them, it was because of the category that he was in. Today we don't have those categories, but for some of us, maybe we feel like that. We're like, I can kind of be on the outskirts of faith, but I can't really be fully in, right? Because of my past, because of what I've done, because of my track record, or maybe we think about other people like that. Like, eh, maybe they could be Christian, not like really Christian, because I kind of know who they are, you know, but like maybe they can a little bit. So Cornelius is kind of in this in-between space. But for us, though, we see that Cornelius looks like an incredible guy. And God sees it too, actually. In verse four, it says, when Cornelius is having this vision, it says, the angel says, Your prayer and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Man, wouldn't you love to like hear, like verbally, in some ways, as an angel? I'll take an angel coming and saying, Hey Matt, that thing you've been doing, man, God sees it and he loves it. God sees it and he loves it. He loves what you're doing. Like, I would love to hear it that way. You know, like there's times by the through the spirit we can hear God's voice and feeling that affirmation, but man, what an incredible thing to be told. And here's the thing that we might miss. The angel says they have come up as a memorial offering to God. You know the thing that he wasn't able to offer because he couldn't go into the temple? He couldn't give offerings. He couldn't like bring an animal that would be like as a burnt offering. He couldn't make other kinds of offerings as well, too, because he couldn't go into the temple. The angel's saying, Hey, you were excluded, but can I tell you a secret? The whole time I've been receiving it as an offering, the whole time I've been receiving it as worship from you. Like, man, that's pretty cool. And Peter had no idea though. Remember, this is all happening behind the scenes of Peter, who he would have excluded, right? He would have excluded this man, and yet God's saying, I've seen it the whole time. And God is answering his prayers. And so Peter gets sent for by Cornelius, and Cornelius cut and Peter comes to Cornelius' house, and he says, Cornelius says, Tell us all the things that God told you to tell us. Later we'll hear that Cornelius will say it that it's like the words of salvation that'll save us, rescue us. So Peter begins and he says, This in verse 36 and 43. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. A message of salvation, a message of relationship with God completely restored and reconciled. This is a humbling and a hopeful word. It's humbling because the message that Peter preached, he's saying that peace with God is something that no one has on their own, that we all find ways to go against God. We all find ways to live life on our own. We'll all find ways to say no to God, Jew and Gentile alike. And that before Jesus there wasn't peace with God. There is brokenness in relationship with him. So with all of Cornelius' good deeds, all the things that he did, that God even said, I received them as an offering, this is good stuff. He's saying, There's still not peace with me. There's still something deeper that has to be addressed in your heart. And he wasn't just saying it to Cornelius, he was saying it to every person, Jew and Gentile alike. Peter's saying, Hey, I've had this experience of God through Jesus, and there's so much more to be had. There's complete forgiveness. I don't know Cornelius' story. I don't know what he did in his past. But I know enough people who have served in combat to go, there's things that I wish didn't happen. And for all of us, go, man, I have things in my past that I wish weren't there. Peter's saying there's complete forgiveness, complete cleansing. And to Cornelius, no longer on the outside. A free gift that's healing and restoring our relationship with God and it's humble and hopeful. And here's the thing: Cornelius doesn't fight against the reality. He doesn't say, Man, but God, I've done a lot of good. How I'm like he doesn't come offended and go, God, how could you say, after all the things I've done, that I need to be forgiven? Are you saying I'm terrible? Are you saying that the poor that I've offered, like the give the poor are like weren't worth anything? Are you saying all the prayers I've prayed, all the ways I've tried to change, isn't that enough? Jong Nils doesn't say that. Why? Because when he hears this message, he's just aware. He was probably already aware before. Like there are things that I wish I could be forgiven of. There's ways that I act and I think that I need forgiven of. I know for myself, like just aware of my own gap times in my relationship with God, in ways that I just see the own bent of my heart at times. The ways that I can think about people, the motivations of my heart, the ways that I keep wanting to pray prayers. God, I surrender my life to you, God, I trust you, and then I want to take it back. I think about, and I'm so grateful how for how God has changed my heart over these, you know, 30-some years of relationship with God. And yet there's still so much more to go. I'm aware of that. I'm aware of my need for Him. Cornelius, he didn't get defensive and say, What are you saying, God? Aren't I good enough on my own? He didn't. He said, I'm in. And well, let me talk about that here in a moment because actually we don't hear Cornelius or anyone say anything. It's actually crazier than that. Because what we see is that Peter's preaching this. And have you ever heard a talk, uh, I'm sure like this one, but you hear a talk and you're sitting on the edge of your seat. You're like so focused in, right? You're just like, I just, I, whatever they're preaching, I'm like so aligned with it. Yes, I want what they're talking about. Whether it's maybe something for like work or marriage or relationships or your walk with Jesus, you're just sitting there. And here, they're sitting here here, hearing Peter talk, hanging on every word. And all of a sudden, it's like God couldn't wait for them to go. And now, if anybody wants to follow Jesus, let's pray this prayer. Or like at our church, it's like, stand up, we'll pray for you on the side. It's like God knew their hearts and their desire for relationship with him so much so it's like God's like, I'm not gonna wait for the formal time. So as Peter's preaching, it says the Holy Spirit, that's God's Spirit, God's presence, just goes and just meets every single person in the room. He just sees the openness and hunger of their heart. God couldn't wait. Do you see God that way? Do you see God that way? Like that when you come to prayer, or that when you even have a little bit of spiritual interests, maybe, or or you're doing something, do you see God as going, like, I've been waiting, like I'm ready for this? Let's go. I just want to be with you. I just want to meet with you. Or do you see God going, all right, I'll wait. Come on. Come on, just a little more, just a little more. Almost there, almost there. Okay, cool. Now you're you've come far enough. It's no, it's the God who in the middle of a sermon says, All right, I'm done with the sermon. Like I see people just want to be with me, and I've just been waiting for them to want to be with me. I'm here, I'm all in. That's what we see happen in the story, and it happens to the most unlikely people for Peter. People that were in categories that were excluded, and it happened to those who were really good people who hadn't yet met Jesus, who were just like, I'm aware, even with all my goodness, I still see my heart as it really is. This isn't about self-hatred, by the way. It's not like this Christianity. I was watching this podcast, and people were kind of uh that don't follow Jesus or having a conversation with someone who does, and they're like, So do I also need to like learn how to hate myself? Like, I think I'm a pretty good person. So in order to become a Christian, do I have to be like, yeah, but that good stuff I do is terrible, actually. And I'm terrible and I'm a horrible person. And like they were asking, it's a legit question. And the guy who's a follower of Jesus is like, no, he's like, I'm just aware the more that I become honest, is those are good things that I do, but there's something deeper in me that just like, man, it's not the way it's supposed to be. It's self-centered, it's it's self-focused. It's like, I don't want there to be a God-me relationship. Like I like where it's just like me, and God is there on the side to help. Cornelius and everyone there, and Peter all saying, God, I need you. I need relationship with you, and I need it through the gift of Jesus, giving his life for me to bring peace to me. And so Peter he says this. Remember, Peter's the guy who's like, I don't know. In verse 47, he says, Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. Remember all the other times he said, Never, no way. I'd never do that. Now he's like, Surely no one can stand in the way of them being baptized. It's one of the times Peter actually gets it right. Uh, he's like, Never, never will someone be kept from being baptized. What a change that had happened in his heart. And friends, for some of us this morning, we need that experience of Peter, where there are just people that we've just written off, categories of people that we've written off that we just say, you know what, I don't think they would be interested in God. I don't think they'd be interested in hearing about my experience of God, not like preaching them and telling them they're going to hell. I'm talking about just sharing, like, this is my life with God. This is the impact it's made. For some of us, we need that heart change of the wall of hostility and saying, God, would you take that down? Would you give me a burden in my heart to pray for those people, to talk to them, to share Jesus with them and in ways that like you'd be invited into? For others of us, we might see ourselves as the people, or maybe we have been, we've been written off. Or maybe you've written yourself off in saying, I know my past. I know the things I've done. I know the categories I'm in. And I people have told me the category that I fit in. People have told me there's no way. Like, you know, like, you know, there's no way they'd step foot in the door of a church, right? Or something like that. Or like I've ever had someone tell you, like, if I step into a church, I feel like lightning's gonna strike me. Those kind of things. Maybe that's been you. Maybe you're someone who's seen yourself in a category. Maybe it's less than that. Maybe you're like, I know I know God loves me, I guess, you know, and I could have forgiveness, but I could never really learn to walk with God. I could never really learn to hear God's voice. I could really never live a life of purpose and significance of knowing him. God could never use me because of fill in the blank. You're writing yourself off. Or maybe people have spoken those words over you. And this morning, for you, the invitation is this to say, that's a lie, and to believe what is true about you. What we sang earlier. I'm chosen. If you've said yes to Jesus, you're chosen, not forsaken. You are who God says you are. That's who you are. There are no limits because of your past. There's no limits because of the category that others or yourself have put you in. You can have a relationship with Jesus. You can, because he started, he came first. He wants you, he knows you, he loves you. So this morning, these are a few of our invitations is to reflect where it's going to take a moment, just a minute, just to sit kind of in silence. What I want to invite us to do, if you're a praying person, you can pray. If you're not really a praying person, you just kind of sit and reflect. But ask this question of one, is there people or categories of people that you've written off that that might pop in your mind and God might bring it that person or those people to mind? And you could just pray a simple prayer. God, I don't know if I can, but would you give me the courage to? Would you give me the faith to believe that you might be speaking and working in them? And just confess that. Or for others this morning, it might be that you've put yourself in a category as an outsider, even if you're here today, but you feel like an outsider on the inside. So let's just take a minute just to reflect and just let God's spirit kind of speak to you about are you in one of these categories? Are you in one of those spaces? And let God speak to you. Holy Spirit, would you come? Would you speak to us this morning? But um, as our eyes are still closed, if that's the posture you feel comfortable with, um, or whatever's comfortable. If if the first one was you, if you feel like, man, I just have people or categories of people that like I've just written off as not being interested in God. I've held back from sharing my faith or even talking about my life with God. If that's you, I just want to pray for you. And you can just want to hold your hands out. It doesn't mean like you're you're prejudiced or something else. It just means like there are just people that you just, to be honest, don't have faith uh forever coming to Jesus. There are people in my life like that too. And so if you just want to hold your hands out, I would love to pray for you. Father, I pray, God, that you would give us gifts of faith this morning for every person with their hands out. You would give gifts of faith to believe for the impossible, to believe, God, that you are pursuing every person. You are pursuing every person in our life. That God, your word says you desire that all people would come to relationship with you, God. All people would be saved. And I pray for gifts of faith in our heart for specific people and categories of people. And I pray for those of us who have our hands out that you would give us a burden to pray, give us a burden to begin to pray for that person or those people. God, forgive us. Forgive us, God, for being like Peter. Forgive us for being like Peter. Help us to see those people like Cornelius in our life who are asking questions, who are wondering, and we'd never guess. And now, if you feel like you're in that second category, I just want to pray for you as well, too. Just like you feel like you're the person who's been told or you just believed like you're in those categories. Your past, who you are, what people have said about you, just exclude you from real life with God. Sort of hold your hands. I'd love to pray for you as well. Jesus, I pray, God, that you would just tear down every lie in our mind and our hearts that would say that we can't be close to you. That we could never really forgive ourselves or receive forgiveness for that thing in our past. That we could never really have peace in our heart with you, that we could never really know, God, that we are your children, that we could never really be used by you. God, we just reject that lie. And I just declare for each woman and man and child in this room that we are who you say we are. We're chosen, not forsaken. We're loved.