Helping People Find Life In Christ | Tyrone P. Jones | Book of Acts

(upbeat music) ♪ Good morning church family ♪ ♪ What a fabulous day to be in the house of Lord ♪ If you are new here, we want to know you. So tap that disc in front of you or stop at the connect table when you leave. If you are watching online, thank you. If you aren't new online, we want to know you also. We want to connect, click that digital connect card. We like to start our mornings in the word. (upbeat music) In Psalms 107 and one, the word says, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. "His faithful love endures forever. "I'm so grateful to have a God that is good, "that faithfully loves and that it endures forever." So we're gonna pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for everything that you've done, everything that you do. You are a mighty mighty God and you are good. Lord, we thank you for your love that covers us. And wash us over us day in and day out. You are amazing Lord, we give you all the honor, we give you all the praise Lord. Open up our ears for God to soften our hearts. We know that this is a divine appointment and we are ready to receive what you have for us. We give you all the honor and praise in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen. If you're not standing, stand as we get ready to worship. ♪ ♪ ♪ You know a name ♪ ♪ There can silence roaring waves ♪ You know a name ♪ ♪ There can empty out a grave ♪ You know a name ♪ ♪ There's the only name I'd say ♪ And it's worthy of all this ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ I call you, I call you healer ♪ Prison and radiant power ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪

Every time I call you Jesus ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ Porthy of glory forever ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ Every time I call you name ♪ I'll have a key ♪ ♪ There's dominion over death ♪ There's a key ♪ ♪ And His holiness ♪ Got it ♪ There's a heal ♪ ♪ That has crushed the servants' head ♪ ♪ Are they directed?

♪ I am I call you Jesus ♪ I call you, I call you healer ♪ Prison and radiant power ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ Porthy of glory forever ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you name ♪ Chains, grey, dry, poor church ♪ ♪ Every time I call you name ♪ The gates, hell, hell, shame ♪ Every time I call you name ♪

Chains, grey, dry, old, away ♪ Every time I call you name ♪ The gates, hell, hell, shame ♪ Every time I call you name ♪ We call you name Oh, that is now yours. Come on Church, sing it. Oh, great. You're victory. Oh, death is now yours. Oh, great. You're victory. Oh, death is now yours. Oh, I see, and we're all great. Oh, great. You're victory. Come on Church, death things come alive. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the game of Jesus. Death things come alive. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the dead. Death things come alive. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the game of Jesus. Death things come alive. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the dead.

Come on Church, Jesus. I call you, I call you Jesus. I call you Jesus. Something comes out of the brain. Every time I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you the Savior. Where do you belong forever? Something comes out of the brain. Every time I call you may. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the game of Jesus. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the game of Jesus. Death things come alive. Death things come alive. Death things come alive in the game of Jesus. Come on, just look at the name of Jesus in this place. Death, where is your sin? Well, we were sinners, Christ died for us. He took our place, their own progress. So rich in mercy, so free he gave. He paid the price, we could pay. Hallelujah for the grace. The change is everything. Hallelujah for the land was slain, so I can live forever. Hallelujah for the ways. Love had never changed. Hallelujah for the fails torn, so I can know you better. Hallelujah for the crown. Hallelujah for the crown.

Hallelujah for the crown. It is finished, where you're in sin. Your darkness thought you wanted. In the light intro, silence the bread. If we treat and rest, the stone was rolled away. Hallelujah for the grace. The change is everything. Hallelujah for the land was slain, so I can live forever. ♪ How to lose you for the waves ♪ ♪ The love that never changed ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the fear ♪ ♪ Was told so I could know you better ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ You have breath, come on and raise this knee ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ Say where's your stay ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ You crave where's your victory ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ You crave where's your victory ♪ ♪ Come on, the perfect dream, the name of Jesus today ♪ ♪ Say where's your stay ♪ ♪ You crave where's your victory ♪ ♪ The cross has defeated you ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪ ♪ You crave where's your stay ♪ ♪ You crave where's your victory ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cold ♪

♪ The cross has defeated you ♪ ♪ I'm Lord of the knows ♪ ♪ In King of Kings ♪ ♪ His holy spirit, alive in me ♪ ♪ He will return ♪ ♪ Come for his cry ♪ ♪ I save your King ♪ ♪ One clouds are found ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the grace ♪ ♪ It changes everything ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the land we're slain ♪ ♪ So I could live forever ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the waves ♪ ♪ You never never change ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the land we're strong ♪ ♪ So I could know you better ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cross ♪ ♪ How to do your ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cross ♪ ♪ How to do your ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cross ♪ ♪ How to do your ♪ ♪ How to lose you for the cross ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ Come on, give a shout-out praise to Jesus. - Thank you, Jesus, for the cross. Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy. We continue to worship. Thank you, Jesus. (gentle music)

♪ I wanna be like Mary ♪ ♪ I wanna sit with you ♪ ♪ Every second is sacred ♪ ♪ When you're in the room ♪ ♪ I wanna be like David ♪ ♪ I wanna sing to you ♪ ♪ The unashamed of my worship ♪ ♪ There's nothing I want to do ♪ ♪ And it's my honor ♪ ♪ And it's my joy ♪ ♪ You are all that I really matter ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ And basket for a fresh encounter ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet for hours ♪ ♪ I can sit at your feet forever ♪ ♪ I don't care who's watching ♪ ♪ It's just me and you ♪ ♪ You're the only one worthy ♪ My life isn't offering, I'll lay it down right here, right now. And it's my honor, and it's my joy. If you were all that written, come on tonight. I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet for hours. Come on, lay down the feet of Jesus for a fresh in power. I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet forever. You are all that written, come on tonight. I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet for hours. Oh, desperate for a fresh in power. I could sit at your feet for hours, I could sit at your feet forever. It's in your presence, we want to be Lord.

In this moment, Jesus, feel this place, feel this place. Now we're going to take the time to celebrate Someone Go Point Public with our faith this morning, and it's something really to celebrate church. Come on, let's turn our attention to the screen. My name is Tyler, I feel like my life was a constant stress, chaos, and anxiety. I was suffering from alcohol dependency and drug addiction. I would drink to numb the anxiety and the constant stream of thoughts. A little over a year ago, I was involved in a motorcycle accident, lost my job, and my vehicles. I lost a loved one to suicide, and two of my closest friends to overdoses. I got to a point where I wanted to take my own life. I spent some time in CBI crisis, I made the decision that I wanted to get clean. I went to rehab and began asking myself, how do I open myself up to God? I volunteered, I was facilitating the meeting, told me not to force it, just to become willing, and he will show up. When I heard that, I knew God was pulling me closer. When I got out, I came to church for the city, I surrounded my life to Jesus, and let him lead my life. Since giving my life to Jesus, he restored me spiritually, mentally, and physically. Jesus has restored my family. I don't experience the same anxiety and depression I once did. I've accepted that God has me where I am for a reason. My faith in God gets me through any stress and difficult moments. I'm learning to trust God instead of turning back to the things I once used to numb the pain. Today I'm going public with my faith. Tyler, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the redemption of your sins. And according to Scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Amen. Lord Jesus. Oh Jesus, no other name, but Jesus. Lord Jesus. I'm not going to waste another moment. I'm not going to waste another moment. Come on, give it all to Jesus. I'm not going to waste another moment. I'm not going to waste another moment. I'm not going to waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment I'm not gonna waste another moment He's my own, I'm not at all I'm not at all And you are all that really matters I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours All that really matters I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours I can sit at your feet for hours Thank you Jesus Thank you Jesus, we love you more Praise you Jesus, praise God How we feel in this morning church Isn't God so good? Isn't His presence so good?

Come on, let's turn and find someone we haven't met before Let's have a minute to mingle, find your seats and we'll prepare for the message ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Wonderful, it's so good to be in the house Welcome to church for the city where we will Teach the word of God and counter the presence of Him And spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Can we just give it up for the praise team? That was a wonderful time in the presence of Him Just amazing and again I hope that you had a good week And pray that you're ready to hear the word of God Just embrace what God has for you Looking forward to what He's going to do in the days In the days of head I want to just share this Common Wednesday is first Wednesday Which we always get excited about We look forward to Pastor Jake Fuquaay from City Church Ventura Will be here with this tremendous young man He's, Jake's been with us two or three times I know at least, so some of you might remember him It gives a great word, it's going to be a great night

That's 6 p.m. on Wednesday Great night of prayer, great night of worship And a great word, so let's fill the house up And hear what God has to say To each of us in our time of worship I do want to thank you for your generosity The slide will be on the screen On the various ways that you can give And I do want to thank you, thank you for that And of course these opportunities are there Truly as you know Giving for us is just not an opportunity It is who we are as believers In the body of Christ that We recognize the need for the Kingdom of God To expand and spread For the work of God to continue And the Lord has given away for that to be done And that's through us, through our Giving, through our tithing And so please respond to the Holy Spirit And if you're not giving on a regular basis I encourage you to do so You'll be blessed, you'll be blessed by Because of the biblical charge that the Lord gives us But just his faithfulness He keeps his promise, can I get some amen's In the house, he does it Now on the 21st of October We'll be hosting a blood drive

Here in the building And something that I didn't know Until I got my notes here Every 2 seconds someone in the US Needs blood or platelets Yet only about 3% of eligible people Donate blood every year And so it can truly be life saving This blood drive Some of it is supporting a local young lady Ayyala Moore She's a local infant That's been receiving treatments And so what we do here for the blood drive Stays here locally I ask you to just look at your schedule In October 21st as the times are revealed If you can come by and donate blood I'm gonna pray now. I do, on the way out though, you'll also see men, there's an opportunity for you to register for the men's conference. So if you're not registered yet, I'm encouraging you to do that. The speakers are amazing, dynamic. It's gonna be a great time for us to spend together those works out to about 36 hours maybe or so. And so if you're not registered for the men's conference, I encourage you, stop by the table on your way out, and let's do that.

All right, I'm gonna pray, certainly wanna pray for the Saldana family, for the young man that was at Castle Dome. I do, I'm very thankful for (coughing) Freddie and Elise, our city youth and young adult directors who immediately went down to the school when they got word of what happened, offered themselves for ministry. There's folks among our congregation that are involved in that. Mr. Geddings, the principal there, Brian Kondracke, who's the assistant principal there, and one of our elders, Tatum Roush, who's a teacher there, Jessica Hubbard, the counselor. So I know that there's some faithful people there that can minister to this family and these students, but we're gonna pray. It's a tough loss to lose a child in any kind of manner, certainly in that way, so we're gonna go before the Lord. Well, Father, I wanna thank you now for this opportunity we have to be in your house. I thank you, Lord God, for the worship, our time together in fellowship, our time together in community, where we get to sing the songs of Zion, and we get the worship here together, Lord, in freedom, A, because of the country that we live in, and B, because our freedom in Christ Jesus. So Lord, I'm so thankful for that. Thank you for the ministry of the worship team,

and Lord, I'm so thankful for every aspect of ministry that takes place here on Sunday morning from parking lots to teaching of classes to the kids, the kids' teachers and leaders, Lord from the safety team, hospitality team, those that are welcoming people in the lobby and guests connect, Lord, it's just tremendous. I rejoice, Lord, to see that baptism of Tyler and hear his story, and Lord, how you worked in his life to bring him to this place where he acknowledges you and his Lord and Savior, how you work through Chris and Nora Morris. Lord, just wonderful, wonderful stuff. So we say thank you, and Lord, as we say thank you for what we experience, and we also, Lord, want to lift up to Saldana family. Lord, not only them, but there's people connected, of course, extended family. Other students are on the young man's soccer team, and Lord, those that are at the school, they are castled on from principal, assistant principal, counselor, teachers. Father, I pray for the family to be comforted. I know at a time like this, there's not words that's going to change, there's not going to change anything. And Lord, there's nothing that can be done here on earth that can fix this, but Lord, you can be present. The ministry of the word and comfort of people can certainly help during a time like this. So I pray for all those that are involved with the family,

that Lord, that their ministry will be fruitful and effective and efficient. And all of the students, Lord, may your grace be upon that campus in the life of that family. Lord, as I prepare to preach the gospel here, my prayer is that every church in this county, that there's someone that's going to stand in the pool pit and bring the truth of the Word of God, preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that in every house gathering here in our community, someone Lord is making a decision to come to Jesus. It's my prayer and my belief actually, that more and more people in our county are coming to the name of Jesus and declare in their faith and becoming public for their faith. And Father, I thank you, I thank you for that. So I pray for every pastor, every leader, every church. Lord, I pray for our land, I pray for our country, I pray for our president, vice president. I pray, Lord, for our military leaders, secretary of war, I pray, Lord, for those that are leading, those that are down in Iran, men and women, a Lord that are either nearby or somewhere in the region. I pray for them to complete the task and the mission to do as given to be done. We do pray for a resolve there. Lord, I pray for this safety that every one of them can get home safely. Pray that all decisions that are made, Lord,

you would be the Lord over this. And so we pray, Lord, for this continual matter and for those who have to make decisions regarding. Lord, we do thank you for allowing us an opportunity to hear your word. May you are knowing to be upon me as I bring forth the Word of God as given to me. Lord, I thank you. Christ saying we pray, may the people of God say, amen. Amen. I'm going to ask you to stand. I'm actually going to read 20 verses out of Acts chapter 10. We're going to read verses 1 through 20. Thank you so much, Philip. Good worship, good worship. Acts chapter 10 verses 1 through 20. And here's what the Word of the Lord says. "Cesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. A devout man who feared God with all of his household gave arms generously to the people and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in the vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your arms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Japa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is launching with one Simon, a Tanner whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and the devout soldier from among those who attended him and having related everything to them, he sent them to Japa. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the house top about the sixth hour to pray.

And he became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were praying while they were praying it, he fell into a trance while they were preparing it. He fell into a trance and saw the heavens open as something like a great sheet descending being let down by its four corners up on the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, "Rise Peter, kill and eat." But Peter said by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. When the voice came to him again the second time, what God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius having made inquiry for Simon's house stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation for I have sent them." So far, the reading of the word, you may be seeding. Now we're in Acts 10 and as you know, we're doing this series on Acts and we're primarily doing it from a narrative standpoint. Instead of going exegetical, which is expositional, sorry, which would be verse to verse, we're just taking a narrative, particularly narrative from each of the chapters and teaching from that with the idea of bringing us to an understanding of what Christ has done in the life of those he has saved. Through all of these, most of these, I would say, I'm going to very much come from a position where you get to see and experience the sovereignty of God and how he works in salvation in our life for salvation. This particular narrative that we're dealing with here, there's two main characters. One is a fellow named Peter, the other one is a man named Cornelius. Peter is a Jewish disciple, a follower of Christ.

And you might know if you read the Gospels that he was one of the original disciples who was also called to be an apostle. He was the one that when the Lord asked the disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" He was the one that says that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, in which the Lord replied, "Yes, that is correct. You are Peter upon this rock. I will build my church." It's the same Peter who was actually kind of the leader of the gathering after the ascension of Jesus and they were in the upper room. It was Peter that led them through a leadership decision because of Judas' betrayal and suicide. And also this same Peter who preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he preached a message in 3,000 people that day were baptized and became part of the church. He's very much prominent in Acts 1 through 5, we see him again in Acts 8. And last week he was in Acts 9, I just didn't bring that out. That's Peter. Cornelius is a Gentile seeker. Now just for you simply to understand the difference when the Bible talks about Jew and Gentile, the traditional Israelite people, anyone that is not of a Jewish descent, if you're not in the family tree of the Jews, then you're Gentile. That's probably the most simplest way to say it. So that would include any of us, if you're not, don't have Jewish descent at all, then you would be considered a Gentile. Cornelius was a Roman officer. Remember Rome was overseeing Palestine or conquered Palestine at that time.

So they would send governors and prefects and different ones to oversee, including people that would oversee the army. So Cornelius, though he was from Italy, was assigned in Caesarea there in Israel. The scripture calls him a devout God-fearing man, so much so that he led his household also into that belief of having a fear of God. He prayed regularly and he gave generously. But I want you to know this, even though he was actively seeking God and revered God and prayed and gave as God desires, he didn't know Jesus. He did not know Jesus was the Son of God. He didn't have a personal knowledge of who God was. He just knew there was a God and he had a reverence for that God. So the question that you would ask is, how would these two possibly meet each other? You got one that's down in Jerusalem who was a Jewish believer and you have the other one who's a Gentile seeker and he's up in Caesarea. How would these two even meet? And here again, I wanna remind you of the sovereignty of God. And remember this again, this definition, that God has absolute right to do all according to his own good pleasure. God works in our life. This really comes into context

when it comes to our salvation. Because of God's sovereignty, because of the sovereignty of God, according to his eternal purpose, God will graciously rule over circumstances in our life. And with the events of our life, relationships will have a work and encounter with the Holy Spirit before we even know that the Holy Spirit is working in us so that we'll eventually be confronted with the gospel and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's the sovereignty of God that works in our life that brings us to this place of salvation. So here you have Cornelius in Caesarea in Acts chapter 10 and he gets a vision, an angel of God comes to him and he commends him for his praying and his giving. He says because of your prayers and because of your giving, it's a memorial before the Lord, the Lord has paid attention. I'm gonna tell you something. If you want to really express your relationship with God, there's no better way to do it than the intimacy of praying and sincerely giving. No better way. I'm telling you, no better way. It will absolutely reveal where your heart is in your praying and in your giving for the work of the Lord. So obviously he's searching. He's searching God, he's searching for truth. And he's told to send for this man Simon Peter

who's down at Simon's house down in Japa. He's a tanner or a taxidermist in our knowledge. He hears the instructions from the angel and he sends for Peter down in Japa. Now, I think the team is ready to show a map there. I hope, then give me a thumbs up when it's up there. I want to show you how, thank you, how the Lord worked in Peter. So he's in Jerusalem, but he's told or informed and sent to go pray for a person named Aeneas that's in Lidor or Litta, which is modern day load in Israel. So he makes the journey 25 to 28 miles. That's probably, I don't know, it could be more than 11 hours, but it's at least 11 hours of walking. He goes and prays for Aeneas and Aeneas gets healed. After that, then he's told that Dorkus down in Japa has died. So he goes to pray for Dorkus. That's another, and Japa is Tel Aviv, a modern day Tel Aviv and Japa, if you were to go to Israel more than likely, that's where you're going to fly into Tel Aviv. So he makes that 10 to 12 mile journey, another probably six hours of walking to go pray for Tabitha, Dorkus, same person, and she's raised back from the dead. And so he heals one person, makes a journey the next day, goes to that person's house, raises them from the dead, and then he gets this message that he's to go to Caesarea, which is another 13 to 14 hours away

of another continuous walking, 38 miles, to go see someone that he didn't know. A Gentile at that. A person is not even Jewish, not even part of the faith. And this guy who doesn't even know who Peter is, tells Peter I want you to come see him. That would be like, after me having a long day of preaching, church service has been great. Somebody sends me a message that they want to see me intact now. Why? I've had a great day. Raiders are playing. Church was great. But so, but he gets this, he gets this call, they're gonna beat your cheese today. He gets this call, and so why would he do this? It's because of this vision. He's on the rooftop. Now mind you, it's noon time. He's already done the praying to woman, has come back to life, they're preparing food, and the scripture says that he's hungry. And what the Lord does in this vision is roll down this sheet with a bunch of animals on it. I mean, you're talking about a tease, the dude is hungry. And the Lord rolls it down this sheet with a bunch of animals and says to him, rise up and eat. Well, the problem is that these animals are considered unclean animals.

Now you'd have to go to Leviticus chapter 11 in Deuteronomy 14 where it lists animals that the people of Israel was not to eat. I don't know exactly what he had on this sheet, but I can just tell you what some unclean animals are. That could have been on here. That the Lord is telling Peter, rise up and eat. It could have been a pig because they weren't allowed to eat any kind of pork. Could have been rabbit. Wasn't allowed to eat rabbit. Could have been a mouse, lizard, gecko, that probably wouldn't have tempted him much. Eagle, a vulture, a raven, an owl. Could have been shellfish. Mean shrimp, crayfish, crawdads, can you need those, lobster, catfish. I mean, I looked at this list. I think black folks is in trouble. He can't eat pork or catfish. (congregation laughing) Can't eat pork or catfish. We in big trouble. My dad didn't been jacked up. So he sees this three times the Lord tells him. He rose this out that says rise, slay and eat. Now it's not that these animals are unclean because they're sinful or dirty, but there's evidently something that's part of them that the Lord said don't eat them.

So Peter sees this and he says by no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is calm and unclean. That's his response. As hungry as he is, he sees this and says, no, I can't eat that. I don't know, I hope God doesn't strike me. It seems kind of cruel that a man is hungry and you do this to him. Knowing that he can't eat it. That would like me telling you I'm hungry and you'd put before me a bowl of squash. What they're gonna do anyway? That just seems a little cruel. So Peter's perplexed but what God is doing is preparing Peter to understand something much bigger that these sheets ultimately are not about, this sheet is not ultimately about animals, it's about people because you see the parallel here, clean equal to people of Israel, unclean equals the Gentiles. It's a fascinating progression. Acts 10, 14, Peter says, I have never eaten anything common or unclean, and watch this, verse 15, the Lord says, what God has made clean, don't you call unclean. What God has made clean, don't you call common. He's perplexed about that. While he's perplexed, they come to see him, they let him know that these people are here, he comes down, he's beckoned to Caesarea, because of this vision and then he hears the Lord say, "When they call for you, you just go." This is how the sovereignty of God merges this together.

There we see Cornelius and Caesarea, who's a God seeker. There we see Peter, who was in Jerusalem, making his way toward the coast, and God brings those two together. Cornelius, God is preparing Cornelius, they hear the gospel and he's preparing Peter to give the gospel. And that's how those two meet together. Join with me here, you'll see it on the screen on what their conversation was like once Peter got there. He said the next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Japa. They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and he called together his relatives and close friends. I love this, I could say so much about Cornelius. Without him truly knowing who God is, he's leading his whole household into a faith to believe in God. And when he knows that Peter is coming, instead of him thinking, "Well, I just wanna have this private meeting," he's thinking, "Man, God is getting ready to do something good for the whole family. We all need to be present. We all need to be here." Can you say amen to that? He wanted everybody to hear what God was going to do. As Peter entered his house, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him.

But Peter pulled him up and said, "Stand up. I'm a human being just like you." So they talked together and went inside where many others were assembled. Peter said to them, "Catch this. You know it's against the laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or associate with you." He just laid it clear. Man, this is absolutely against the rules for me to come into your house or even to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me, "Why have you sent for me?" Here's verse 30, Cornelius replied, "Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in Desmond clothes was standing in front of me. He told me, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God. Now send messengers to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter. He's staying in the house of Simon, a Tanner who lives near the seashore. So I sent for you at once and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you. When Peter understands that this man is seeking God, that God has set him up to go to the house of Cornelius,

he knew that his job was to give the gospel, to get over his religious hang-ups, to get over those ethnic differences, to get over those things that made them different, that would keep them separated or even cultivate some things in their heart against the other person. He knew his job was to get over that and to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He later declares in verse 34 and 35, truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Now I want you to lean in here because I'm done with the narrative, but I want you to lean in because this is what I want you to hear. There's Cornelius's all around us. All around us are Cornelius's, people that are seeking God, people that don't know God, people that know that there's something that they should connect with or someone that they should connect with and don't know who it is. And many of us, unfortunately, instead of us having a mindset to help those folks, we are calling those people unclean. We call those folks common. Those are folks I don't want to hang out with. I know what he did to his wife. I don't want to have nothing to do with him. I know how he cheated his company.

I don't want to have nothing to do with him. I know what he thinks about black people like me. I don't want to talk to that dude. I know what that person's lifestyle is. I don't care what his problem is. It ain't me that's going to help him. We see Peter, Cornelius's, all the time, and we have determined they're unclean. They're just common folks. I don't want to have anything to do with him. I'm talking about religious folks who haven't got to that place to understand who Jesus is. I'm talking about agnostics. I'm talking about the unchurched. I'm talking about people who've deconstructed. I'm talking about the wounded. I'm talking about the broken. And when people get in this condition where they're seeking and don't get connected with the God who he knows who can save them, then the enemy just sets them up for their life to be more destroyed. Because they're not connected to a life-giver. They're not connected to the creator. They're not connected to the one who can give them peace and can give them hope and give them joy. So they're out there and they're able to be sabotaged by the enemy who wants to absolutely destroy their life just like he wanted to destroy yours and mine. He wants to destroy them. They're set up to be beat up and left for dead, spiritually dead.

They're far from God, far from life and Christ. They're just straight up lost. The staff has been going through which I think is a groundbreaking book by Pastor Mark Estes on the road we must travel again. And he has a quote in his book. I'm gonna read two quotes from him. Talking about lost people. He says, "Lost doesn't mean that they're evil. "It doesn't mean they're defiant. "It doesn't mean unworthy. "It means they're wandering without a guide, "herding without a healer and breathing "without truly living. "Lost people. "We got them all around us. John 10, 10 says the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. These are folks that are on the road to life just like you and I. They were going about doing their thing, doing life. And somewhere just like the story in Luke chapter 10 of the dude who was on the road to Jericho, he was just doing life. And someone came along and just beat them. Here's a quote actually in Luke 10, 30. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, fled, leaving him half dead.

That's people in life just going down the road. Get sabotaged by whatever is happening. And the enemy just destroys their life the best that he can. Kill, steal, and destroy. Esther says this and I'll, this is my last quote from me. He says, "I have dead person." Listen to this, it's someone broken by the weight of belief confusion. Behavior, chaos, emotional crisis, and spiritual disillusionment. Far from God. And quietly bleeding on the roads we walk on every day. They're not beyond hope. But without someone to cross the road, they may never know how Jesus can change everything. Got them all around. We got coordinators all around. We're walking by people who are half dead. And we leave them there just like the priest did. He looked at the man's condition and he walked by just like the Levite and Luke 10 looked at the man's condition and saw that he was beat up and half dead and just left them there. And when people are left in that situation, their behaviors only start to manifest even more so. Because again, they're not connected to anything that gives them life. So they start doing things that they think will help them out of a situation where they can find some peace. And usually the choices they make because of no guidance,

no word, no light, just leaves them in more broken destruction. They end up in financial bondage or social media addiction or a broken marriage or sexual sins or pornography or some kind of porn addiction to gambling, substance abuse, fall into anger or violence or to a rage culture or just fall into achievement obsession. None of these things is the things that are gonna help them out of this situation. None of these things helps that half dead person. None of these things help someone who's seeking and because they don't get connected to whom they really need, they start doing other things. And they find out just like we all did that just more sexual sin doesn't fix the problem. More addiction doesn't help. Being angry at everything doesn't give you more peace. Financial bondage and mismanagement just causes more concern and chaos and that's actually what happens. They go from behaviors that you might not totally see outwardly to a whole bunch of issues that causes more despair. They fall into depression because the pornography ain't fixing the problem. They go into anxiety disorders. They go into loneliness. They go into fear and anxiety about the future. They fall into hopelessness or PTSD or political polarization or cultural division. Trying to find a place where they think they belong

and where they fit and find out that none of these things are actually helping them. And then the problem can even get worse because oftentimes and hear me on this, I said at first service, I said at this service, I'll say at third service and don't make no excuses for saying it. I think CTC is the best church in town. I absolutely do, but this is what I know. Not everybody out there thinks the same of us. They don't think the same of us because it's those same folks out there who we pass by and look at them when they're half dead because we got stuff in our head about folks. So we fall into judgmentalism. We beat, they see us as hypocritical. They see us as too political or insensitive or maybe even irrelevant and that we're very exclusive that the only people that we like is people that's just like us. Hear me, hear me church. People have a conscience. They got a conscious need and they're searching. We gotta be the ones that get over our stuff to help folks that are far from God, find life in Christ. We gotta get over our stuff. Barna done a survey in 2019. 75% of Americans say they're open to spiritual things. 74% of Americans say they're open to spiritual things. But how are we gonna get to those folks?

We cannot let the things that are different about us cause us to separate ourselves from people who are not like us Are you following me? That there should there should never be political stuff that keeps us from reaching out to other folks Should never be should never be no reason why folks shouldn't have certain people at their house for things given because they got political differences Cross those barriers Everybody in here knows who I am and what I believe but can I tell you I don't give a rip if you're Republican Democrat independent. I don't even care if you're if you're communist Socialist or Marxist if you need Jesus you need Jesus bottom line bottom line We don't let that stuff divide us We don't let the different colors of skin divide us some folks come from different parts We used to say in the old church other side of the tracks. I get it I'm telling you Virginia and I didn't have dinner with folks got in our car and thought well, they look different Sorry, if I am talking about you, you don't know it, but anyway So folks folks we get it folks are different Folks have different mindsets Folks see things in a different way than we do. Your job is not the sixth stat Your job is a cross their barrier to help heal that to get to them where where we got across the barriers that keep us From reaching them the number two point them simply and clearly to Jesus That's it simply and clearly to Jesus once Peter got through the door. He doesn't give grenades some Complicated religious system He tells them about Jesus. He tells them about his life. He tells them about resurrection. He tells them about Lord shit He tells them about forgiveness. Here's here's the verses here and acts 10 and team. You can you can come I'm wrapping up here then Peter replied I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism in Every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right This is the message of good news for the people of Israel that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all Notice that here is the message from us Peace with God people in depression despair hopelessness people that have broken wounded non-religious

They all want peace every one of us want peace. Where does that piece come from through God in Christ Jesus? Who's Lord of all? He's not just Lord over Jews. He he's Lord over Gentiles. He's Lord over black folks white folks Mexicans He's Lord over all He's Lord of all. You know what happened throughout Judea beginning in Galilee after John and began preaching his message of baptism And you know they got anointed Jesus of Nazareth the Holy Spirit and with power Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him and we apostles are Witness of all he did throughout Judean and Jerusalem they put him to death by hanging him on a cross But God raised him to life on the third day then God allowed him to appear Not to the general public but to those whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead and he ordered us to preach everywhere and To testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all and the living and the dead That message ain't just for the disciples. That's to us preach everywhere What are we telling people? He is the one all the prophets testified about saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name Everyone can have their sins forgiven through a belief in Jesus Christ John 10 10 I read part of it It says the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy it, but here's the rest of it This is what Jesus said, but I come so that you might have a life and that you may have it in abundance Christ is the one that gives them life Christ is the one that gives them abundant life, so we just simply and clearly tell them about Jesus and here's the third thing in the last thing We trust the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do He does the heavy lifting that that's the thing about sharing your life of Christ That's the thing about sharing with others about Christ. You don't have to worry about the heavy work That's not for you. It's not for you to fix anybody's depression It's not for you to fix anybody's anxiety. It's not even for you to fix anybody's addiction We share Christ and let the gospel and the Holy Spirit do the heavy work The heavy work would be done by him Peter is preaching Proclaiming Christ and the spirit is transformed

Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. Can you picture this? The dude is still telling about Jesus, and then an outpouring of the Holy Spirit breaks out. I would love to stand up here one Sunday while I'm preaching, and the Holy Spirit just fall on this place while I'm preaching. People start reaching up to heaven. People start falling on their knees. People start crying. People start singing. People start speaking in tongues only because the Holy Spirit is doing the work. Because it's not us. Just give them Jesus. It's simple. Give them Jesus. He'll do it. He'll do the heavy work. There remains at what was going on. Heard him speaking in tongues and praising God. He said, "Can anyone object to these folks being baptized now that they've received the Holy Spirit, just as we are. He gave them orders. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." We don't give people life. We just help them encounter the life-giver. But the only way we can do that is across those barriers, proclaim Jesus, and trust the Holy Spirit to do the work. That's the only way we can do it. You know, there's a version, Luke. It'll be on the screen. It's got part of verse 7 and verse 10. And it says, "In the same way there's more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns a God."

There is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. I love that. I actually love the fact that there's joy in heaven when somebody repents. But can I tell you what gives me joy? When I'm standing next to the person here on earth and see their life transformed. I'm glad heaven is happy, but I want to be happy. I want to see people's lives transformed. Every seat that's empty next to you, that seat belongs to somebody who needs to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there ain't more joy that can come to you than to stand with them and take communion knowing this person's life. It's changed. I know the story of the young man that got baptized that you saw this server. Know his story. I watched Nora Moore's crying as she saw him getting baptized because of the joy of knowing his journey and them walking with him. And now her husband gets the baptized. Can you imagine the joy the next time we take communion and he's standing there? Taking communion in the body of Christ. We got to cross some barriers. We got to tell people about Jesus and let the Holy Spirit be the heavy work. He'll do the heavy work. Everybody stand if you will. I'm going to pray with you the prayer team. I'll be here. So if you need prayer, they'll pray with you. But as we give thanks for what God has done for us, I'm praying. When you celebrate this communion because of the reminder of what Jesus has done and the thanks that you have for what Jesus has done. But when you lift this up to the Lord, you also lift up that person who you want to stand with you. You want that person standing right here with you one day taking communion also because you're going to cross that barrier. You're going to tell them about Jesus and you're going to watch the Holy Spirit do the heavy work.

Am I talking to the right church? Father, I thank you. For this opportunity we have to celebrate and commune together. We're reminded of what you've done and we give thanks for it. But Lord, as we take this, Lord, we're thinking about that person. But we want standing next to us as we see their life transformed by the power of the gospel. We make the commitment to cross the barrier and tell them about Jesus and we trust you to do the heavy work. In Christ's name we pray. Let's eat together. Let's drink together. Let's shout hallelujah. God bless you. Have a great day. ♪ We praise you for your blood Jesus. ♪ ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna waste another moment. I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil. Here's my oil. And I'm not gonna waste another moment. Here's my oil, you'll have it all Have it all, you can have it all I'm not gonna waste another moment I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil, you'll have it all

Have it all, you can have it all I'm not gonna waste another moment I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste another moment Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste Here's my oil I'm not gonna waste I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours You are all that really matters I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours

Desperate four hours I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours I can sit at your feet four hours Church of Peace coming in here There's a group of people who are ready to pray with you and for you Otherwise God bless you, we'll see you this Wednesday for First Wednesday [MUSIC PLAYING]