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

now again, I think I'm going to read down through verse eight. Then you'll be welcome to be seated, but I'm going to read all the way through down to verse 20. Acts chapter 10. I'll read one through eight with you and then nine through 20. I'll continue on through it. Here's a word of the Lord. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave his arm generously to the people and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly the vision and 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 been ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Japa and bring one Simon who's called Peter. He's launching with one Simon of Tanner whose house is by the sea." When the angel who spoke to him and departed, he called two of his servants and the vouch soldier from among those who attended him. And having related everything to him, he sent them to Japa. You're free to stay standing if you want. 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 prepared and he fell into a trance, saw the heavens open and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there was a voice to him, "Rise Peter, kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And 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 to heaven. Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as the what the vision that he had seen might mean. Behold, the men who were sent by crannies having made inquiry for Simon's house stood at the gate and called out and asked whether Simon was called Peter was lodged in there. 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 can you say, "Men, men, you may be seated." I want to talk about it. It's certainly part of our mission statement to see people far from God. Find life in Christ. I want to take the title today, helping people find life in Christ. Now, this is a narrative. As you know, we've been in a book of books of Acts. And most of it's been narrative preaching, meaning take a story out of it, a narrative out of the book because every one of these chapters have so many components. But the idea in not doing what we call

expositional preaching, but where we go line by line, but just grabbing a narrative and bringing some truth out of it. And I really, most of my messages through this, through Acts, will probably focus in on the sovereignty of God and how he works in salvation, which we see so clearly here with the two main characters in this passage is Peter and Cornelius. They're the two main characters. Peter, as you know, is one of the original disciples of Christ who eventually became an apostle of the Lord. It was Peter when he was, when the disciples was asked about who Jesus was. He says that you're the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus responded upon this rock. You are Peter upon this rock. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. It's the same Peter who also was the leader of the group when they were in the upper room in Acts, chapter one, after the ascension of Jesus. He had to walk them through some leadership transition because of Judas. But also was the one that preached that sermon on the day of Pentecost, when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came and 3,000 people were baptized on that day. He's very prominent in Acts, chapter one through five, then we see him again in chapter eight, and then we see him in chapter nine, which I didn't deal with last week, but I will a little bit today. And here he is in chapter 10. Cornelius, on the other hand, is a Gentile seeker. Whenever you hear the term "Jewish Gentile," just know ancient Israelites called anybody who was not of Jewish descent a Gentile. So consequently that includes us. Any of us in here, that's not of Jewish descent, not in the family tree of the Jewish people. We would be Gentiles. The word means nations, but basically they just used it to describe non-Jews. Cornelius was certainly one of those, and he was a Roman officer. All of Palestine at that time was under Cornelius was one that was assigned in Caesarea there in Israel. What's interesting about him is the scripture says he was a devout man. He was a God-fearing man. He was a man that prayed. He led his household even in the belief that there was a God. He prayed regularly and he gave generously. Now, I want you to know this though, even though that was his lifestyle, he actively sought God. He revered God. He prayed. He gave his God-desired. But he didn't know who this God was. He just knew that there was a God. He did not know that he was indeed Jesus the son of God who is our Lord and Savior. So when you read this narrative, then you have to ask the question, how in the world would these two meet? One is a Jewish believer who is actually based out of Jerusalem. The other is a Gentile who's just a seeker of God and he's in a place called Caesarea. And this is again where the sovereignty of God absolutely comes into play. And I noted last

week that the sovereignty of God was his absolute right to do all things according to his good pleasure, his absolute right to do all things in our life, in our life, according to his good pleasure. That works very strongly in the context of salvation because God is working his eternal purposes in us. He's graciously doing that. He's ruling over circumstances. He's ruling over relationships. He's ruling over events. The Holy Spirit is working in our life before you even recognize that the Holy Spirit is working. So that eventually will be confronted with the gospel and be drawn to the saving faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a remarkable thing that God does by his sovereignty in our life so that we come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. So in Acts chapter 10, you have Cesaria, sorry, you have Cornelius and Cesaria and during his time of prayer, which I believe was about 3 p.m. He was an angel shows up. The angel commended him for his prayers and for his giving. Let me just tell you something. If I can absolutely inform you again, your intimacy with God will show up in how you pray and how you give. It'll show up in how you pray and how you give. It was acknowledged by God. It was a memorial to him. He obviously was searching for God. He was searching for truth. And he was told to sin for the angel came and told him to sin for this man named Simon who's also at the home of another Simon who's in Japa. He's a tanner. And sure enough, he gives instructions to do that. Now the team, I hope I got this time in right. They're going to show you a map on the screen because I want to show you where Simon was. Give me a thumbs up when it's in behind my head. Okay, you guys see it already. Great. So I want you to see the journey of Simon for a minute of Peter for a minute. This is covered in the latter part of Acts, chapter 9. So he's in Jerusalem and he's called to go to Lyda, which is modern day load, to pray for a person named Aneas. That's 25 to 28 miles away. And I would say if a good strong walk, maybe you can get there in 11 hours just walking. There's not a lot of evidence that the apostles traveled by horse or chariot at all. So that's an 11 hour walk at the least. He goes there, prays for Aneas, Aneas gets healed. Then he's called to go to Japa. That's modern day Tel Aviv and Japa, if you were to fly into Israel more than likely you're going to fly into Tel Aviv. And so he goes there to pray for Tabitha who's died, who's also known as Dorkus. And that's another 10 to 12 miles. So maybe another five and a half to six hour walk. And then he's called to Caesarea from Japa, which is another 38 miles, another 13 to 14 hours of walking again at the least. And he's called to go there for somebody he doesn't know, for a Gentile person. He knows nothing about that person. And someone shows up to Japa and just says,

"Hey, Simon wants you to come to his home." Why would Simon do this? After being sent from place to place, seeing the fruit of it, Dork is being raised from the dead by the way, seeing the fruit of it. That would be like having a great day at church and somebody comes to me and says, "Man, I want you to walk over to tagging at a meeting." Like what? I've had a great day at church. and you want me to walk the chakna to go see you. But that's basically what comes into play. But then he gets a vision. He gets a vision. He's on the rooftop. It's noon time. He's waiting for them to prepare food. The scripture clearly says he's hungry, and he was praying. And these sheets, the sheet comes down with a bunch of unclean animals. Now, to understand the background of unclean animals, you'd have to read through Leviticus 11, Margaret. You'd have to read Leviticus. Leviticus 11, inside jokes. She knows what I'm talking about. You'd have to read Leviticus 11. You'd have to read Deuteronomy 14. And you'll see the distinction between clean animals and unclean animals. That's primarily what's on this sheet. Now, he couldn't have put them all, but what could have been on this sheet could have been a pig, because they're not allowed to eat-- they weren't allowed to eat a pig's. Could have been a rabbit. They're not allowed to eat rabbit.

Could have been a mouse. Could have been a lizard. Could have been a gecko. I wouldn't think that that would have tempted them. Maybe an eagle. Vulture, raven, owl. Couldn't eat those shellfish. Couldn't eat no shrimp. Couldn't eat no crayfish. Can't eat no lobster. Catfish-- black folks would be in big trouble. Couldn't eat catfish. But all those things would be on the screen, on the sheet, that you wouldn't be able to eat. Now, listen, unclean does not necessarily mean dirty or poisonous or evil or sinful. It's just what was not considered kosher. That was part of the mosaic covenant. Evidently, these animals-- and we know some things about pigs. We know some things about catfish. We know some things about some of these shell creatures. Evidently, some of the things that they ate, the Lord just said, no, no, you don't want that in your body. I would have had a hard time with the pig. Man, give me that-- I'm hungry, give me that bacon. What are you talking about? But anyway, Peter sees this. And right away, he says, by no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. He just right away says that.

He's hungry, but he says, Lord, I'm not going to do that. I honestly think, if I could save this, and hopefully God won't strike me down. It seemed a little cruel to do that. The dude is hungry, and you land out animals that you know he can't eat. That's like me telling you, I'm hungry, and you give me a bowl of squash. Come on now. So I just think it's a little cruel. And so three times the Lord does this, and he's perplexed. But God is preparing Peter to understand something much bigger. The sheet isn't ultimately about the animals. It's about the people. It's about the people. Clean people with people of Israel. Unclean animals equal the people, the Gentiles. It's a fascinating progression. Verse 14, Peter says, I've never eaten anything common or unclean. Verse 15, and God says, what God has made clean, you don't call common. What God has made clean. You're determining that these people are unclean. What God has made clean, you don't label them unclean. That perplexed Peter. But the people come, and he hears them, and they call him down, and the spirit of the Lord tells him to go. That's where the sovereignty of God comes in. It merges the request of a, and the prayer of a Cornelius, and works in the heart of a Peter.

That the purposes of God will be brought together that someone who is seeking Christ can hear the gospel message. I love this. And Caesarea, God is preparing Cornelius to hear the gospel, and Japa, God is preparing Peter to take the gospel. He works on both men at the same time, and y'all follow me on this. And so we see in Acts chapter 10, I'm going to-- these two sets of scriptures would be on the screen. This is kind of the dialogue. The next day, he went with them accompanied by some of the brothers from Japa. This is Acts 10, 23 through 29. They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them, and he called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. There's so much I could say about Cornelius that he didn't even know truly who God was, but he was leading his family into faith. Don't any of y'all miss this. And at the time when he knew God is about to do something, he didn't just say, I'll just meet you outside or in my room. He called his whole family together. All of the relatives to hear, God is about to do something. Every one of us ought to be involved in this. I'm not talking to the right church. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him, but Peter pulled them up and said,

So they talked together and went inside where many others were assembled. Peter told them, you know it's against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or even associate with you. So he lets them know, man, what I'm doing is against the law. I'm not even supposed to walk into your house. I'm not even supposed to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. I came without objection as soon as I was sent for, now tell me why you sent for me. Cornelius replied, four days ago I was praying in my house about this time, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, suddenly a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me and he told me, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God. Now send messages to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter. He's standing in the house of Simon, a Tanner who lives on near the seashore. I sent for you at once and it was good for you to come. Now we are all here waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you. It's beautiful. What Peter does understand is that there's someone seeking. Cornelius is actually seeking. And he knew he had to get over his religious hang-ups. He had to get over his ethnic beliefs. He had to get over his ethnic differences

if he was gonna help this man come to Jesus. Peter later says in verse 34 and 35, "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." I need you to lean in on this because I need you to hear this. There's Cornelius is all around us. There's Cornelius is all around us. There's people who seek it after God that they don't know. They know that they need life from someone or something spiritual. I'm talking about people who are religious, who just don't know who God is like Cornelius or the agnostics or the unchurched or the deconstructionist or the wounded or the broken. And what the enemy has done is sabotage these people's life, beat them up and left them for dead. So they're spiritually dead. They're far from God, far from life and Christ. And they're lost, they're lost people that the enemy has sabotaged their life and they're the people in front of us. The staff we're reading, I think it's honestly a groundbreaking book by Mark Estes who's ministered here in June. And his book is called The Road We Must Travel Again. And I certainly give credit to Mark for a lot of my thinking on this message. But there's one quote that he has,

I'll actually quote him twice in his book, talking about lost people. He says, "Lost doesn't mean evil. "It doesn't mean defiant. "It doesn't mean unworthy. "It means they're wandering without a guy, "herding without a healer, breathing without truly living." That's the folks that are around us. That's the folks that you see every single day. You're gonna leave here from church today and I guarantee you, I don't care what you do. You're gonna run into them, some of them might be in your home, some of them might be in your Gavin later on. If you go out to eat, you're gonna run into them. These are the folks that are in front of us, that the enemy, the thief, has just about demolished, destructive, destroyed their life as best as he could. This is what John 10, 10 says. A thief comes only to steal and destroy. And when that happens to people's life, then they're indeed left on the road for dead. Of course, the story of this, the background of being left for dead, in this case is in Luke chapter 10 with the story of the Good Samaritan. Because a lot of folks are going down just regular life, just like all of us, just doing life. And somewhere down the line, they get robbed by a devil. They get sabotaged by enemy. Luke 10, 30 says this, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers.

They stripped him, beat him up, fled, and leaving him half dead. These are the people that we've seen. These are the people you work with. For some, these may be people that you live with. These may be people that summit your family gatherings, or you meet for lunch, or you meet for dinner. Esther said this, this is second time I quote him. A half day dead person is someone broken by the weight of belief confusion. They're broken by behavior, chaos, an emotional crisis, and spiritual disillusionment. Far from God and quietly bleeding on the roads we walk on daily. They're not beyond hope, but without someone to cross the road, they may never know how Jesus can change their life, how Jesus can change everything. Half dead people. And so often, too often, we leave them there. Peter could have left Cornelius in this condition. Just like the priest and the Levite left the man that was on the road to Jericho, have did in that condition. And then this is what happens. When people are left in that condition, we see a lot of the behaviors. Oftentimes, we don't know how they get to those behaviors, but I want you to know this, and you're gonna hear this list from me, but don't think that any of us are immune from getting here. Every one of us could have had these behaviors

if we refused, if we stayed, sorry, if we stayed in the condition of brokenness, if someone didn't have a heart to tell us about Christ. We could have been left in this condition. Financial bondage and mismanagement. Social media addiction, broken marriages, separation and divorce, sexual sins, pornography, use and addiction, gambling, substance abuse, anger and violence and rage, culture, achievement, obsession. Without Christ in your life, you're trying to find life in someone else, or something else. You may know there's a God out there, but you don't know who that God is. And the whole time that you don't know who that God is, the enemy is just robbing you and beating you down, because you're left without a guide. You're left with what you think is without hope. You feel like you're helpless. You know that there's something out there, but you can't get a hold of it. So what do you get a hold of? Everything else that can mess your life up. Am I talking to the right church? And then the issues come, because why? You can't find life in any of those things. You're not gonna find life in social media. You're not gonna find life in sexual sins or substance abuse.

You're not even gonna find life in being a workaholic or achievement-obsesser. You're not gonna find life in that. So then the issues result. This is what we see in people's life. Depression, anxiety disorders, loneliness, fear and anxiety about the future, hopelessness, PTSD, political polarization and cultural division. That's the issues that come. That's the issues that come. People don't want to separate themselves from family on Thanksgiving because of political beliefs. But when the enemy robs them and steals them, while they're trying to find, get a hold of something that's right, that they settle for something that they think makes them feel better. Y'all hearing me? People don't wanna keep stuffing needles in their arms or shoving a bottle down their throat. But when they're left broken and half dead and can't find a way out, they do the thing that they think makes them feel better. That's the issues that end up coming. But the problem gets worse because many of us could be thinking like Peter initially. The Lord shows us people that we're to go to, talk to. He wants us to cozy up to just for relationships taken. Man, I don't wanna be around that dude. I know what he did.

I don't wanna talk to her, man. I saw what she did to her husband. We see folks and we call them unclean. We call them unclean. Not God, but we made that determination. And they might've done some bad stuff. People can do some ridiculous stuff. Believe me, let's be truthful. People can do crazy things. Stuff that make you angry. Stuff that make you cry. Stuff that make you hurt. Stuff that humiliate you. Stuff that shame you. But the Lord may wanna use us in those people's life and he falls down the sheet and we say, uh-uh. No, not going to that one. Not talking to that one. Lord, you're gonna have to use someone else. And here's how people start defining us as Christians. And believe me, CTC, I'll say it out loud. I'll say it on camera. CTC is absolutely the best church in town. I make no bones about it. At the same time, not everybody out there thinks the same of us. A lot of them think we're judgmental. We're hypocritical. We're too political. We're insensitive.

We're not engaged enough. We're too irrelevant. And certainly very exclusive because there's some folks we just don't want around with. And hear me church, I'm telling you, there are people out there that's got some real conscious needs. And they're really searching. This was a Barna survey in 2019, maybe, yeah, 2019. 74% of Americans say that they're open to spiritual things. But they'll never find Jesus. there they are, the three things I've got to fill, thank you, buddy. Three things, if we're going to help people find life that are far from Christ, find life in Christ that are far from God. Number one is this. We got across the barriers that keep us from reaching. We just got across the barriers, whatever they are, people do have different political beliefs, people got different upbringing, people got different colors of skin, people got different thoughts about things. I'm telling you, listen, I've been in circles, Virginia and I oftentimes, well, I don't know if I should say this because it might be something y'all, but we'll go to dinner with folks and get in the car and say, "Oh, they a bit different." It a bit different. Sure, people, it's a fact. We get that. We understand that, but we can't let that be a barrier. We can't let that keep us from looking in their eyes and see the value that they have. We cannot call them unclean because of that. We can't do it. We got across the barriers that keep us from reaching folks.

I know people who are, man, I don't even know if I should say this out loud, who are Republicans, who don't want to talk to Democrats, like what are you talking about? As if that defines people at all. I could give a rip whether you're Republican, Democrat. I don't care if you're a conservative, independent, hear me. I don't even care if you're a communist or a Marxist, you need Jesus. It don't matter. You still need Jesus. We got to cross those barriers that keep us from reaching people. Here's the second thing. Point them simply and clearly to Jesus. That's all you've got to do. Point them simply and clearly to Jesus. Once Peter gets through the door, he doesn't give Cornelius a complicated religious system. He tells them about Jesus. He tells them about the life of Jesus. He tells them about the death of Jesus. He tells them about the resurrection of Jesus. He tells them about the lordship of Jesus. He tells them about the forgiveness of Jesus. Listen to this. These verses are on the screen of your team. This is a good time. Acts 10, 34, and you can start the music behind me. I'm feeling a little bit of anointing, so just strike up something a little bit. Acts 10, 34 through 43, 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. There it is right there.

You saw that list, depression, anxiety, PTSD, rage, and anger. What do people need? Peace. Where do peace come from? Christ and Christ alone. Who is Lord of who? Just Lord of the Jews? Just Lord of the Mexicans? Just Lord of the blacks? No. He is Lord of all. He brings peace to all. You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning with Galilee after John began preaching his message of baptism, and you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with 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 a witness of all that he did throughout Judea 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 us, 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, the living and the dead. And he is the one. Listen. Listen to what he's saying. He's anointed us to preach. Don't just take this for the disciples.

He's anointed us to preach, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name. That's the message. It's just simply taking people to Jesus. That verse in John 10 says, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy." But I've come. Jesus talking that they may have life and have it more abundantly or have it in abundance. And here's the last thing. Just trust with the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit can do. Trust with the Holy Spirit can do. Remember, you're not responsible for the heavy work. You're not responsible to move depression from them. You're not responsible to remove anxiety from them. You're not responsible to take fear out of them. You're not responsible to change their behavior of whatever addictions it is. You're not responsible for that. We're responsible for the message the Holy Spirit will do the heavy work. The gospel will do the heavy work. and wounded and have to just preach Jesus. Listen to this, Acts 10, 44 through 48, even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. He was still preaching. Well, I would love to have to step aside from this pulpit that while I'm preaching, the power of the Holy Spirit fell on this place. And folks is just worshiping God and falling on their knees and crying out to Him. God, some of y'all may scare you,

but might start speaking in tongues. Oh boy, won't that be a bad thing? No, no, what if the Holy Spirit just fell on you? While He was preaching, the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, can anyone object to their being baptized now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did? So He gave them orders to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will do the heavy work. We don't have to give people life. We just help people encounter the one who does. Our responsibility is just to cross those barriers, to proclaim Jesus and let the Spirit do the work. It'll be great rejoicing. It'll be a great rejoicing. And I think I do have this last verse, and I know I might have skipped the verse or two, but y'all been great back there, thank you. Luke 15, seven, and 10, it says, in the same way there is more joy in heaven, over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God. There is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. That talks about joy in heaven. I wanna get some joy on earth.

I wanna get some joy on earth seeing people's life change and transform. I'm glad heaven rejoices, but let me rejoice when Uncle Billy gets saved, and Aunt Sally comes to the Lord and jacked up Johnny turns his life around. Let me give some joy because I've crossed the barrier, because I've brought Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has done the heavy work. Let's get some joy. Everybody stand, let's take communion together. And we'll close out with this. I'm gonna do a general prayer. The prayer team will be up here for prayer as we go into the closing song. But I want us to take this in our hand. And just for a moment, just recognize what you're doing. You are preparing to bring a remembrance to what Christ has done for you. And you do this, I hope, with Thanksgiving. And you do it with joy because he has. He's saved you. His body was broken for you. His blood was shed. And there's a whole lot of us who need what we need, we would love, you would love. If you got an empty seat next to you, I'm telling you, there's somebody that the Lord has placed on your mind that you know they need Christ.

They need Christ. Cross that barrier, cross that barrier, and tell them about Jesus, and what joy would be. I just saw, I saw Noah just weeping and weeping here because I know the work Chris has done in Tyler's life. I know the work he's done. There is nothing more joyful than to worship with somebody who you know life was jacked up. And the Lord used you to bring them to Jesus. They can stand right here with him and hold his cup. And celebrate life in Christ. Father, I thank you. Lord, for what you've done in all of our lives, every one of us have experienced your sovereignty that's brought us to a place where we heard the gospel and surrendered to Christ. Lord, may that be as we celebrate that, but we also take this cup and lift in our head and heart the person we want standing next to us. If we cross the barrier, if we tell them about Jesus, you'll do the heavy work. And Father, we celebrate. Let's eat together. Let's drink together. In the shout Hallelujah, God bless ya. Have a great day. [MUSIC PLAYING]