Are We Letting Fear Keep Us From Reconciliation? | Acts 11:1-18 | Kevin Queen

My name is Christina, and we are all so glad that you've decided to worship with us today Listen we are going to start our service by giving all gratitude and all glory and all honor to him because it's because of Jesus That we are alive and that we are free So we're gonna worship together So let's get our hands going like this come on (music) That's right, come on We're gonna give him praise, we're gonna give him praise, yes Come on. I was very good in my share You know You could carry that kind Oh wait, it was my turn Till I made you a trap I was breathing but not alive All my failures I tried to hide It was my turn to women Till I made you come on, judge me say you called my name Then what did I read my back pray? Pull up my brother Out of the darkness into your glorious dead You called my name And I read out of my bread Out of the darkness into your glorious dead Okay, come on, from the front to the back Now your mercy has saved my soul Now the freedom is all that I know The only new, Jesus when I made you You called my name And I read out of my bread Out of the darkness into your glorious dead You called my name

And I read out of my bread Yes we did Out of the darkness into your glorious dead Hello church, bring your hands together, come on We're gonna continue to sing about His goodness That's right, come on Here we go I needed rescue, my sin was heavy But chains break at the weight of the road I needed shelter, my husband You called me, see you soon Come on, when I was broken You were my healing Your love is healing I'm breathing I have a future Minds are open You called my name And I read out of my bread Out of the darkness Into your glorious dead You called my name And I read out of my bread Out of the darkness Into your glorious dead You called my name And I read out of my bread (audience clapping) Jesus is good, He is the author and perfecter of our faith, the cornerstone of our faith, and we can put our trust in

hope in Him today. So we're going to continue to sing and lift up His name because He is worthy. So let's sing. Come on. ♪ My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus ♪ ♪ Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪ ♪ I cannot trust the sweetest faith ♪ ♪ But holy trust in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ alone, corners strong ♪ ♪ He makes strong to save us all ♪ ♪ Through the storm, through the storm ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ He is His ♪ ♪ When darkness sees to hide His face ♪ ♪ I restore His unchanging grace ♪ ♪ In every high, in every high ♪ ♪ And storm again ♪ ♪ My anchor holds within the bed ♪ ♪ Come on, we sing now ♪ ♪ My anchor holds within the bed ♪ ♪ We sing out, Christ alone, corners strong ♪ ♪ We can bless us all ♪ ♪ He makes us love through the storm ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ He is the Lord of all ♪ ♪ Lord of all ♪ ♪ Lord of all ♪ ♪ He shall come with trumpet sound ♪ ♪ Oh, may I then and then be found ♪ ♪ Dressed in His word justness alone ♪ ♪ And fall asleep before the home ♪

♪ Come on, we sing now ♪ ♪ It's the corner stone ♪ ♪ No matter what you're going through ♪ ♪ What's your face that you can trust ♪ ♪ In the corner stone that is Jesus ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ Come on, we sing all across the room ♪ ♪ Christ alone, corners strong ♪ ♪ We commit strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the storm ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ Come on, one more time, we sing ♪ ♪ Christ alone, corners strong ♪ ♪ We commit strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the storm ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ Christ ♪ No matter what you're going through, He is Lord and He is good. And we know that because of Scripture and what it says about Jesus and about who He is like we just sang He is the cornerstone of our faith and there's a reason for that and so I wanted to read from Philippians. heart behind that is that we would receive what this means for us, and the gravity of what he did for us. Says Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited, and said he emptied himself by assuming the form of a sermon, taking on the likeness of humanity, and when he had come as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And so Jesus, we speak your name over this place, Holy Spirit would you be near to each one of us in this room today, maybe there's somebody walking in here who's feeling anxious, God would you provide peace that only you can give, maybe there's somebody in this room that is seeking hope today, God would you fill them with hope beyond what they've experienced? Maybe there's somebody who's feeling like they need purpose, like they don't have a direction in life, God would they find you, God would they seek you. And so we just honor you today Lord, and say you are the source of everything that we're seeking, and we say how beautiful is the name of Jesus, your name holds power, your name holds authority, and so we just honor you with our lives on our song today. It's all in your name we pray, amen. You are the word of the beginning, one with good, the one most high. You're in a glory and creation, I've revealed it, you are Christ, what a beautiful name it is, what a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ, my King, what a beautiful name it is, and nothing compares to this, what a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus, oh. It's in and what happened without us, so Jesus, you brought heaven down, thank you Lord, my string was great, your love was greater, and what could separate us now, what a wonderful name it is, what a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ, my King, what a wonderful name it is, and nothing compares to this, what a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus, what a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus, oh, there's no like yours, oh, and that could not hold you, the way before you, your silence the voice I've seen and prayed, the heavens are roaring, the praise of your glory, and for you are raised to life again, and you have no rival, and you have no equal, now and forever. Our holy, what a powerful name it is, what a powerful name. Jesus, Jesus, we speak to never Jesus, what a powerful name it is, and nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. 'Cause we have no rival, you have no rival, you have no political power ever caught to break. And your sister king, your sister glory, your sister name, a powerful name. What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. What a powerful name it is, and nothing can stand against.

What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. (Music) (Music) (Music) I grew up in a household that was a sensibly Christian, it was not the happiest place to grow up. It was a very critical environment. Perfection was something that was always expected, and whenever we would fall short of that, it was always punished. In growing up in an environment like that, I always struggled with self-image and confidence. I was always very socially awkward, and that held all the way from elementary school to college and beyond. When I got to college, I decided what I would try to do to fight that is to fit in by starting to drink, like everyone else was. I started drinking way more, way more often, and over time, what I didn't realize is that it has stopped being about fitting in socially, and had kind of turned gradually into a form of escapism. That spirit of addiction had crept into my life quite severely. In early 2020, my life got really hard, really fast, like it did for a lot of people, and I started to kind of retreat into that addiction. My response was to switch from alcohol to weed. I started smoking just as much as I had been drinking. It just turned me into just a shell of a person. It was in the depths of that darkness that I saw a light from one of my friends, one of my close friends. She put me in touch with a spiritual mentor in her life, and I started having conversations with him. All of this ultimately led me to decide to give my life back to Jesus. At this point, I was still mired in my sins and addictions. Shortly after that, I remember lying in bed praying to be free, and I just felt this voice in the back of my head that prompted me. You know, if you want to be free, get up, take all the stuff that's in your house, throw it in the garbage right now. So that's what I did, and when I laid back down, I just felt the most powerful, radiant presence of good. It just felt like I was hearing for the first time, "Hey, good job, son." A little while after this, I went and officially went public with my faith, February 2023. Over the course of the next year, I slowly got clean. Not by my strength, but by God's. It was a really long road, but by the grace of God, I can now say that I'm free.

I felt a calling into full-time ministry, and I didn't have any idea what that was gonna look like. And then I just got the inkling to check the website of the church where I'd been baptized to see if maybe they had a spot open. And I found the page of the residency. I saw that there was a section of it for operations, that kind of behind the scenes, supportive stuff. And the rest is history. I've been a resident here ever since, and by the grace of God through the marked program, I'm now in seminary with the Asbury cohort. It's just incredible to look now at where my life is compared to where I was, just three years ago. I'm just so incredibly thankful for the way the Lord has showed up in my life. And I'm so eager to continue devoting that life back to him. (gentle music) (audience applauding) - I just, I wanna take a moment, Jay, and just let you know, we are so proud of you, and all that God has done in your life. I mean, what a beautiful story He's given you of His grace and of freedom, and just of transformation. And so, I also wanna let you know, thank you for giving Him your yes to serve Him, however He leads, and vocationally, in this next step with the residency. And in cross-point, I wanna take a moment

and just say to you, thank you. Thank you for the way that you have given sacrificially, and for your generosity that has made this residency program possible. Two years ago, we started with the marked generosity initiative. This two-year, really, campaign initiative where we would, as a church, seek the Lord and the invitation to give $20 million above normal giving, and there are lots of things that we've been able to do together, but one of those is to fund our residency program, and stories like, like Jay's, this two-year program where somebody post-graduate can come in and get real ministry experience, they can learn and grow, they get a ministry coach and a spiritual mentor. And in many ways, like a hospital residency where a student would be able to come in and learn and grow and get that experience, that's what we're able to provide here at the church, and it's just been incredible, incredible to see Pastor Zach Schroeder leads up this program. It's been phenomenal to see the way that the next generation of leaders, I wrote in my notes this way, that we don't just want to reach the next generation, we want to raise up the next generation to reach the generation after them. And so that is what's happening.

And in conjunction, our residents have an opportunity to be a part of the Asbury Seminary Program where for three years, that program is to get a master's level education in Christian ministry, and the idea is that they can get that while they're doing the residency, and then when they graduate, they're not saddled by debt. And so truly, they can go anywhere God wants them to go, anywhere He's calling them to go, and not carrying that debt. And that's just a conversation with Jay. He feels called to Japan, and to ministry in Japan after this feels called to the nations. And so he'll be able to follow God in that lead because of your generosity. So if you have a heart for raising up leaders in the next generation, and for what God's doing in the kingdom, I want to encourage you to go to crosspoint.tv/marked and you can find out how you can be a part of this, pray and ask God how He would have you give, and we'll continue to see what God does together. But today, we are continuing this series in the book of Acts. We're in Acts, chapter 11. So if you got a Bible, that's where we're going to be today. Acts, chapter 11. And we're in a series called Pull Up a Chair. It's called Pull Up a Chair.

And we're talking about how in this moment, God invites the Gentiles to be a part of what He's doing. And so I want to begin today's teaching with a question. Have you ever had a relationship that's been fractured? A relationship that's been broken, a relationship that's been estranged? Maybe it was a family member or a friend or a co-worker or a neighbor, where at one time you were close, but then something happened, whether it was suddenly or gradually over time, where there's this rift in the relationship, there's distance in the relationship. And maybe it was something that you said, maybe something you did, maybe it was a combination of you and them, but eventually things were fractured and things were broken, and maybe you just don't know how to get things. And maybe you wonder deep down inside, like, will things ever be as they should be. And maybe there's just this low grade though hope that things could be restored, but you just don't know how to get there. Does anybody have a relationship like that or ever had a relationship like that? You just lift your hand, my hands up. I got two hands up. Anybody else?

Okay. Yeah, I think this is part of being human in a broken, fallen, fallen world where we experienced this relationally. And I had one of these relationships where for four years, there was this distance. For four years, things were not as I wanted them to be as I needed them to be, but to be honest, I didn't know how to get things back right. And so I wrote a text four years ago to this person and some of you are wondering who this person is. You just need to mind your own business. But I just like, and I need, I don't know what to say. And I send a text asking him if you wanna go have coffee and he responded back that it wasn't time. And so there's a scripture in Romans chapter 12. It says, "In so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." And so you can't control other people's responses. You're only responsible for your side of the street. And so we have to say, "In so far as it depends on us." And so I wrote that text. And then this past summer felt a prompt to send a letter. And so sent a letter and still it wasn't time. And then about a month ago, I was at an event. And at the event, I walked in and I saw him there, had seen him in four years. And I'm thinking, there's a little awkward. And then he looked over and he said, "Hey, how about I take you up on that cup of coffee?"

And I was like, I tried not to show Mark's excitement like in that moment, but I was like, "Yeah, let's do that." And so I texted him and we set up a time and we set up a coffee house that we would meet in. And I got there before he did and I got the coffees. And so if we were in this back room in this coffee house and I was kind of sitting there waiting on him. And I found myself like moving around the drinks and the stuff on the table, just like hoping that like if I got everything just right, you know, if I got everything just right, it'd make the conversation go better. I was just trying to control when I could control. But the other things that I couldn't control, well, he walked in and he sat down. And we, you know, it's kind of awkward at first, but then after about 30 seconds. And God's grace just settled on it. And like he said the things, I said the things, we shared heart and it was apologies, it was grace. We prayed for one another. And it was like, and when I left, I was walking, I remember walking down the sidewalk going, I feel a thousand pounds lighter. Like I could breathe deeper than I had been able to breathe in a long, I could feel, I could feel reconciliation in my body. Physiologically, I could feel it. You know, our friends who are in recovery, they tell me that step nine is to make amends.

That step eight is to make a list and to be willing to make amends. But step nine is to actually make them. To amend means to mend. It means to repair what is broken. It means to repair what is broken. It's going beyond, I'm sorry. They're asking the question, what do I need to do? What can I do to make things right? And amends isn't something that alcoholics do. Amends is something that humans do. Because we all have broken relationships. John Orberg said it this way. No one is so good they don't need forgiveness and no one is so bad that they are behind it, that they are beyond it. No one is so good that they don't need forgiveness and no one is so bad that they are beyond it. Walking down that sidewalk, I could feel reconciliation in my body and this is what makes Acts chapter 10 and 11 so powerful. Because it's about reconciliation in the body, in the body of Christ. You know, when we look at Acts chapter 10, and if you were here last week, it's the story of this rift that was taking place between the Jews and the Gentiles. Now we'd say Gentiles, it means non-Jews, it means the nations other than those who are part of the people of Israel.

So there was this rift that had taken place and that had been going on for a really long time. For centuries, and circumcision and dietary laws and social customs and religious traditions where there was this gap of separation. And so they didn't talk to one another, they didn't come together. The separation had been there so long that it was hard to imagine that things would ever be different. And then in Acts 10, where we were last week, God tells the church to pull up a chair, that the Gentiles are being invited into the church, that Gentiles are being invited into a right relationship with God, that Gentiles get in on the gospel too. And it's hard for us to overstay, even understand how significant this moment is. I mean, Luke wrote, he wrote in Acts and he wrote it on a 35 foot papyrus scroll. And so Luke is actually devoting this much time. These two chap, he's devoting this much time to what took place, because it's so significant that there are no second class citizens in the Kingdom of God, that Gentiles get grafted in, that Gentiles are a part of this movement too, that we as Gentiles get to be, and we get grafted into this covenant relationship with God. And so this is a huge deal. God wants to make it abundantly clear, unmistakably clear, that Gentiles are invited in. What he's saying is that in Christ, whether you're Jew or Gentile, you are as close to God as you want to be. You know that, right? You're as close to God as you want to be. And so the invitation is here, and this is where we pick up in Acts chapter 11, verse 1. "Since the apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God." So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them." So word got back to Jerusalem about what Peter had just done. I mean, they didn't have table fellowship with Gentiles. And so the word got back that Peter did. And so when word got back, I mean, word traveled to Jerusalem faster than Peter could get there. I mean, this word of mouth, they didn't have iPhones, they didn't have social media, they didn't, they wasn't able to text or send an email. But word had traveled so fast. And now these people back in Jerusalem, instead of being excited about what had happened, they criticized and evaluated how God moved. Sounds like Christians on the Internet.

I want you to think about this. God moved, and now they want to get together to decide if God has permission to do what God did. And so they are criticizing and they are evaluating what God has already done. The ESV says it this way. It says, "The circumcision party criticized him," which is a terrible name for a party. You don't want to RSVP to that and so this group is criticizing Peter. What are they criticizing Peter for? For welcoming in the outsiders. They are criticizing him for reaching out to others that are outside of the group. I want to tell you, when you start living for God, when you join God on mission, when you start loving the people that Jesus loves who are different than you, when you begin to be sold out for Jesus, don't be surprised when people criticize you. What we call this is insider resistance. Insider resistance. And insider resistance is when people who have received the grace of God are more committed to protecting what's familiar than extending grace to outsiders. This again, insider resistance is when people who have received God's grace personally are more committed to protecting what is safe and comfortable and familiar and their preferences rather than extending God's grace to outsiders. What'd you say this? They've received the rescue. They've been made right with God, but now they want to turn the rescue boat into a cruise ship. But instead it's about rescuing other people, it's about their own comfort. And so there's insider resistance that's taking place and it says that they were criticizing. You would think they would be people who would be happy about what God's done, but instead they're critical of it. And this is not a critical eye. It's a critical spirit. And you know there's a difference between a critical eye. A critical "I" seeks to understand. It seeks to understand what's going on. A critical spirit seeks to accuse, makes accusations. A critical "I" discerns what's going on, wants to discern. A critical spirit wants to divide. I want you to see what they had already, they didn't ask any questions. They had already made up their mind before Peter even got there. And they accused him. They bring their accusations. Why did they do this? I'll tell you why I think they did this. I think they did this because they're afraid. It's a great leadership quote. It's by Todd Bolzinger, leadership author, he says this. He says resistance isn't something that evil people do, it's something scared people do. Resistance isn't something that evil people do, it's something scared people do. Whether you're leading at work or whether you're leading at home or whether you're leading the church, resistance isn't something that evil people do, it's something

that scared people do. Scared people who are afraid of loss, of losing what's familiar, of losing power, of losing control, of losing reputation, who are afraid of loss. And so they're resisting. I think personally they're afraid of persecution. Because if you remember in Acts chapter 9 it tells us that there was a time of peace. It said, "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened." Now remember right before this they're facing just unruly persecution, this fierce persecution by those Jews who are non-believers. And I think that they're thinking, man, if word gets out that we're accepting the Gentiles, which has it, that there is this accepting and this mingling that we're mingling with the Gentiles that we're going to eat in their homes, that we've turned our back on the law, that we've turned our back on the covenant. If word gets out on this, that we forsaken our traditions of our people, then man, persecution is going to ramp up again. And we might lose our houses and we might lose our jobs and we might lose our relationships and we might lose our families, might lose this sense of peace. But living for the mission is more important than all that. And so this mission and this calling, so it just makes me ask a question. It's like, is there anywhere where you are resisting, maybe resisting what God is doing or what's going on? Is there anywhere where you find yourself resisting? And when we do find ourselves resisting, to ask the question, is there fear? Am I afraid of loss? Is there something that I fear losing that's causing me to resist? And one of the ways that we know that we can be there is because of a critical spirit. If we find ourselves having a critical spirit or being cynical of other people, then we go back and we can just ask a question. Am I resisting because of something that I'm afraid of or loss that I could experience? Where might it be showing up as criticism, but really it's trying to control? And I want you see what Peter doesn't do. Peter doesn't get defensive. He doesn't ramp up. He doesn't match them energy for energy. He doesn't, he doesn't pull rank. He doesn't, what are you talking about? I'm Peter. I was like the first round draft pick disciple. And I was when I walked with Jesus. I walked on water. He doesn't, he doesn't, I'm the apostle. I'm the one that Jesus gave the keys to. He doesn't pull rank, but I want you to see what he does. First of all, it says starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story. I love this. They bring, this is great leadership. They bring accusations and Peter brings a non-anxious presence. That's great leadership. They bring, they bring their criticism. And Peter says, well, let me tell you a story. I want you to see the peace that he brings, the non-anxious presence that he brings.

Let me tell you a story. And then he walks them back through everything that God has done. Verse 5, it says, "I was in the city of Japa pray, and in a trance I saw a vision." Now, some of us, we read trance and vision, we're like, I'm out. But there could be this, there could be a measure of skepticism or even further of suspicion when it comes to spiritual experiences. And I think it's important for us to try to discern what's going on. So maybe a better posture would be Tell me more about what you, does it line up with scripture? Does it reflect the heart of God? Does it look and sound like Jesus? Does it move forward the mission? Because not every experience is of God, not every spiritual experience is of God. But at the same time, not every spiritual experience that's outside of our comfort zone needs to be dismissed. It must be discerned. And so these are some of the questions that were like, tell me more, Peter, tell me what happened. He says, well, I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven, and by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked and saw it, and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. And then I heard a voice telling me, get up, Peter, kill, and eat. And I replied, surely not, Lord. Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth. The voice spoke from heaven a second time. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. And this happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. So Peter shares this vision.

He shares this supernatural experience with these insiders, and he shares it with them. And I think there's so much to learn from this because what Peter is doing is he's empathizing with them. He's like, I get it, I understand the struggle. I was slow to understand too. God had to tell me three times. He's like, I may God repeat himself three times because I was slow. So Peter, he's identifying with where they're at. You know, one person who does this, Bryce Crawford, who's like a, who's an evangelist online, Gen Z, evangelist online. And he'll do this all the time if you watch, when he's talking with people about Jesus, is he's like, hey, I understand, I dealt with anxiety. He'll say, I dealt with depression. I dealt with my own doubts, and there's this empathy. And what we learn from this is that there are a lot of people who can argue with your opinion. It's hard to argue with a testimony. With a testimony of how God has changed your life. The most powerful thing you have is your testimony. And Peter is giving them this testimony, but he doesn't stop there. Here's what I want you to see. He gives them confirmation. He gives them confirmation. How do we know that this experience is of God? And this is gonna be super helpful.

I wanna encourage you, if you're taking notes today, I wanna encourage you to take notes. If you've ever wondered, is an experience, is an encounter, is a way that God is leading? How do I know God's will? How do I know God's will in my life? How do I know that it's God leading me, that it's God directing my past? How do I find confirmation of these things? And in this passage from Peter's conversation, I wanna give you four confirmations of how to know that it's God's will when he's leading us outside of our comfort zone. Take a note, first one is this. God confirms his will through his provenance. God confirms his will through his provenance. When we say provenance, we're talking about the circumstances. We're talking about God's timing, about open doors, about the way that God provides through circumstances, direction in our lives. This is the first thing that Peter is saying. He says, right then, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was saying. He's like, I just had this vision of what God was saying, except the Gentiles, accept those who you've considered unclean. I had this vision, and then at these Gentiles, these random Gentiles I've never met before, they show up at the front door of the house that I was in. It wasn't even my house, it was Simon the Tanner's house. How would they know that I was at Simon the Tanner's house

or looking for me unless God did this thing? Here's what he's saying, I didn't engineer this. I didn't make this thing happen. I was praying and God did it. God was working on both ends. This is God's prophet and Sarah lives. And so when we have our eyes open to see God, how are you moving around me? We can see that God opens the doors, but we need more confirmation than that. We need more confirmation than just circumstantial provision in our lives, and so which leads us to the second confirmation, which is God confirms his will by the spirit. God confirms his will by the spirit. God's spirit, his spirit doesn't live in a temple somewhere else. God's spirit dwells in the hearts of those who belong to Christ. So his spirit dwells and God's spirit will lead us. God's spirit will, this is why it's so important that we keep in step with the spirit and not the desires of the flesh. That we walk in the spirit and God's spirit will help us discern, his spirit will lead us, his spirit will direct us. That we have this intimate relationship with God, this attunement to his spirit, and that we follow. He said, the spirit told me, I don't want you to hesitate. The spirit told me, have no hesitation about going with them. And so Peter is following the spirit, one of the ways that we know that God's spirit is leading us, There's just this peace. It may be something really difficult, it may be something really challenging, it may be

something really hard, but God leads us by his peace. And when we don't have God's peace, it's like having a, you know, you have like a rock in your shoe, you know, you're like, "Man, I need to do something about that." You know, you take it off and try to, you know, get that rock out, like, because I can't keep going forward when I don't have his peace. So when we don't have God's peace, that's a good, that's a good sign to just, to wait, to wait upon the Lord. It may not be His timing, and He's waiting, but God will give, when God's leading us, He will open a door and He will give us the peace, He'll lead us by His Spirit to walk through it. So God through His providence, God through His peace, and then what you see next is that Peter doesn't go alone. It says, "These six brothers also went with me and we entered the man's house." So God will also confirm His will through His people. God confirms His will, if you're taking notes, God confirms His will through His people. Just because He had no hesitation didn't mean that He had no community. Just because He had God's peace didn't mean He went alone. Now what's interesting about this, how many people say He took with Him? It's not a trick question. How many people did He take with Him? Six, very good. He took six. Now if you go back to Deuteronomy, you see that for a matter to be confirmed, it required two to three witnesses. And so Peter's like, "I'm not just going with two to three," and he's like, "I'm taking six." Why? Because this is so significant for him to go and embrace the Gentiles. He's going to new territory, he's doing things that have never been done before. And so he knew, "I'm not going at this alone, there is humility to bring an issue to the

counsel of other believers." You know what keeps us from going to other believers? Pride. You know what keeps us from going to other people who, I mean sometimes we're like, "Hey, I'm trying to make a decision." And we go and talk to people who we know will agree with us. Everything going to our godly friends and saying, "Hey, what do you think?" To truly seek wisdom. So Peter, once you see, there's not pride, I mean one of my stories, like pride makes us think like, "Man, I got this, I'm going to do this on my own," reminds me of the story of Muhammad Ali on an airplane. Flight attendant told him, "Mr. Ali, you need to buckle your seatbelt." And Muhammad Ali says, "Superman, don't need no seatbelt." And she says, "Superman, don't need no airplane either." Although that's pride of saying, "I got this, I mean we can do, we're all guilty of this, that we can say, 'I got this.'" But I want you to see the humility of Peter go, "I need, I need you guys. I need you to go with me. I need your prayer. I need your accountability. I need your encouragement. I need your discernment. I need you to tell me what you see that I might not see. I need you to watch and pray." I said, "Just because I have God's peace doesn't mean I don't need God's people." So Peter, God confirms his will for Peter through circumstances, through his spirit, through God's people. And then last, keep reading, it says, "We entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved." And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he came on us in the beginning. He was talking about Pentecost, when they were in the upper room, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the 120. He's saying just in the same way that God moved on us there, God moved, that we had a Gentile Pentecost, the Holy Spirit showed up and he said, "I remembered what the Lord has said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." He said, "I remembered what the Lord has said." Which lastly, the greatest confirmation, God confirms his will by his word. God confirms his will by his word. You need to know God will never contradict his word. God will never contradict himself in his word. So there's just kind of this progression of, for providence and circumstances, they move a little bit further with his spirit and then the people of God confirm that. And then we get to God's will was confirmed by his word. Once you see this, Peter doesn't interpret God's word based on his experience. He interprets his experiences based on the word of God. You know, God never contradicts his word and we need his word and we need his truth in a changing world. We need his unchanging word. Yeah, we live in a crazy world. Isaiah talked about that there would come a day, there would come a culture that calls good evil and evil good. And so we can't depend on the culture to tell us what is right and what is good and what is true. We need God's help with that and God has has given us his word. I mean, think about it in our culture. Experience is authority and in feelings of where people are trying to find truth and desires or where people try to find identity. And so we've got, we've got this, this culture and the problem with all

those things is all those things change. Those things change multiple times a day. And so we need something that is solid, something of substance, just like a boat without an anchor, anchor down. You know, Vanderbilt experienced a miracle yesterday. This is what happens when I get ADD in the preacher, but you need to know if, if you don't have an anchor in life, you will be blown all over the place. You will drift all over the place. We need, we need an anchor, something that, something that is secure, something that will, something that will hold. Otherwise we will be, we will be blown away by our, by the fads of the culture, by the opinions of the culture, by our algorithm, by pressure, by popularity, will be all over the place. But the word of God gives us an anchor to tell us what's true in an, in a changing world to know what is unchanging about who God is and who we are to God and how we should live. His word is truth. And so Peter gives them confirmation. What he's saying, he's like, Hey, this is not casual. This is not flipping. It's not just a decision that I made. God led me by his providence. God led me by his spirit. God led me and was confirmed by the people of God. And it was confirmed by his word. And then after this, there's only one conclusion. Verse 17, it says, so if God gave them the same gift he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think I could stand in God's way? See, when God makes his will clear, there are only, there are only two options. There are only two options. When God makes his will clear, only two options.

One is you can join him or the second you can stand in his way. When God makes his will clear, there's only two options. One, you can join him or the second you can stand in his way. And Peter's like, who am I to stand in the way of God? To stand in the way of what God wants to do, which really standing in the way of God. God's still going to do what he's going to do. He's just either going to do it around you or he's going to do it through you. And we are all capable of insider resistance. We're all capable of receiving God's grace, but withholding it from others. We're all capable of receiving God's grace, but then pursuing our own comfort and our own desires and making it about us. The best way for us to overcome insider resistance is to rebel against our own indifference. It's to rebel against our own resistance to God. Let me ask you a question. Is there anywhere where God may be leading you that you've been saying that? Maybe it's a relationship that needs to be reconciled, a relationship that needs to be restored. Maybe it's somewhere you need to invite somebody to pull up a chair. Maybe there's a text you need to write, an email you need to send, phone call you need to make. Maybe somewhere you need to make amends to ask for forgiveness. Maybe it's to forgive someone and to forgive them doesn't mean that they are right. Doesn't mean that what they did was justified. Doesn't mean that necessarily that the relationship continues how it did before. And when you do that, it can feel like the person that you're setting free is that other person, but really the person who gets free is yourself. And that bitterness that can cause a critical spirit, that bitterness that can cause cynicism and resentment like frozen anger that shows up in other moments in life. Ask how God brings about the healing he wants to bring. Let me ask you a question. Is there anywhere where you're standing in the way of what God would want to do? And I realize that there are a lot of relationships in a room like this that are not as they should

be. And we've got to trust God's timing on that insofar as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. I'm just asking, is there something that God has for you to do today? To bring the gospel truth of reconciliation into our horizontal relationships. If he's leading, don't have internal resistance. Step out in faith and trust him with the outcome. And can I tell you personally that the only way to hold on when we have broken relationships, the only way to have strength and to have peace is to know that you're reconciled with God as we wait for other relationships to be restored, to know that we're made right with the Holy God. And the only way that happens is through Jesus. And so if you've never been reconciled with God, then let today be the day for that. Let today be the day that you experience was like to have your sin forgiven. What it's like to be made whole, what it's like to be loved as you are and not as you should be, because none of us are as we should be. That today you can be reconciled with the Holy God and just know that that reconciliation didn't come without great costs. That we're made at peace with God. We were enemies with God, we're made at peace with God only through the blood of Christ, through what he did on the cross. And so today will be an opportunity to receive that. And then also at the same time to extend mercy and forgiveness, because how can we who have received this forgiveness from God, how can we who have received this great mercy from God withhold that from others when God's forgiven us all our sin that we would extend to others as well. So I'd love to pray for us and that would you bow your heads and your hearts with me across the room? Father you love us. Thank you for your love.

I pray for those right now who today is the day of salvation, today is the day to receive the grace of Christ, the love of Jesus, the hope of eternal life. Thank you that we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works, not our own doings. So God I pray for those today that need to receive that today, that need to be reconciled with you. But would you give them the faith to pray something like this? You can just repeat after me, Father thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus to down the cross for my sin. Right now I turn from my sin and I turn to you. I believe that Jesus died from me and is raised from the dead. I pray that you would give me new life, I receive new life. I want to live with you forever in heaven and live for you here on earth. Thank you for saving me. Father I pray for those that made that their prayer for the first time. Would you give them the courage? Would you give them the courage to follow you and make it known? And they got to pray verse 18 over those who were already followers was that when they heard this they had no further objections and praise God saying so then even to Gentiles God is grain of repentance that leads to life. Lord thank you that repentance leads to life. [MUSIC PLAYING] a way that would lead to life, that in a moment, just as they changed their minds, in a moment, just as they changed it in a moment where they went from resistance to repentance, where they went from criticism, critical spirit to surrender, that this could be that moment. So pray for those who are followers of you, Jesus, that you would teach us and show us how to make amends, to bring the gospel, vertical to horizontal in our lives, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]

[BLANK_AUDIO]