Sunday Worship - July 25

Is the dawn out of hope Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning, everybody. We're going to get started today in our time of worship. If we want to go ahead and stand, we'll do our Scripture reading together. We're going to be reading out of Ephesians 2. And we're going to be doing 18 through 20.

And it starts, For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are being built, sorry, together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you for our time together today. We thank you that we can gather and also gather together online, and we thank you for the encouragement that we are to each other. We ask that you be with our service today. We thank you for the opportunity to worship you,

and we thank you that through Jesus we've been brought close to you, and we thank you for that sacrifice. And just be with our service today and allow it to glorify you. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right. Our first Song we're going to be doing is called Glorious Day. It is a newer song. It is different than the normal Glorious Day that I thought it was, but it is a good song. The words are good, so just follow along if you can, and we'll start with that one today.

I don't have any sound. I might be needed. Stop. Uh-oh. I think I just cleared the plane. Hang on. Technical and old person. Okay. There we go. I was buried beneath my shame. Who could carry that kind of weight? It was my turn. And you.

I was breathing but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my turn till I met. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into your glorious day. You called my name, and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness To you Now your need has saved my soul Now your freedom is all That I know The only knew Jesus when I met you You called my name And I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into your glorious day You called my name And I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into your glorious day I can't rest My sin was empty The chains break at the way of your glory I needed shelter, I was an orphan

Now you call me a citizen of heaven When I was broken, my healing Now your love is even I have a future, my eyes are open Cause when you call my name I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness Into your glorious aid You call my name I ran out of that grave Out of the darkness All right, good job. Our next song we're going to do is Jesus Messiah. And then we're going to move into our prayer and share time. And if you're watching online, there'll be a slide up with a phone number to text for your prayer requests. If you want to send those, we'd love to pray with you on that. And we will be muted here during that time. So we'll be back after we're done doing that together here. So we'll be singing together Jesus Messiah.

He became sin Who knew no sin That we might become His righteousness He humbled Himself And carried the cross Love's so amazing, love's so amazing, Jesus Messiah, name above all names, blessed Redeemer. Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven, Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.

His body, the bread His blood, the wine Broken and poured out All for love The whole earth trembled And the veil was torn Love so amazing Love so amazing Yeah, Jesus Messiah, name above all names, blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, the rescue for Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all, all our hope is in you. All our hope is in you, the glory is in you, God, the light of the world. Jesus, I hear Name of all names Blessed Redeemer Emmanuel The rescue for sinners The ransom from heaven, Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all. Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all. We'll be right back. My praise and hallelujah, louder than the unbelief. My praise and hallelujah, my weapon is a melody.

Always a hallelujah When heaven comes to fight for me I want to see The middle of despair Rounded in love Coming up with me It's more of the love of me As it's so hopeless I'm going to tell these things we need. I keep you down. I reach the hallelujah. I'm doing everything inside of me. I reach the hallelujah. Thank you. We'll be right back. Thank you. Heaven comes to me for me. So, I love you. And my eyes are so happy. So, I love you. I love you. I love you. So, I love you. I love you. So, I love you. Heaven comes to me for me.

I want to see the light of the storm. How there is no one ever made you come home. I'm going to be out to turn on your eyes. For the dead is in me, and keep it alive. I want to see the light of the storm. I'm going to be here. Amen.

All our creation Roses to be yours Behold the Lord God Seated on his throne From the last authority Behold our King Nothing can compare God bless the Lord. Thank you. Thank you. all right as we move into our time of communion we're going to be singing there is a redeemer

There is a Redeemer Jesus, God's own Son Precious Lamb of God Messiah, Holy One Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all names. Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, full full sinner slain. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done. When I stand in glory, I will see His face. And there I'll serve my King forever in that holy place. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and living your Spirit till the work on earth is done.

Thank you. I think my favorite thing is about, especially those evenings in the summertime where it cools down a little bit, is we like to sit around the campfire, sometimes with our family, sometimes some of the friends or neighbors come over, we sit around the campfire and drink coffee. I haven't decided if my favorite part is the campfire or the coffee, but it is a wonderful thing, just to sit with your friends and spend time together. And as we gather around the table this morning, I want us to think about that fellowship, because for God's people, this is the moment of encouragement and fellowship. And just like I love to sit around a campfire with a cup of coffee and some good friends and family, and it's an encouragement and a joy to my soul.

so this table is for God's people this is a a joy and an encouragement to our souls in first John um John writes uh about which was from the beginning the things at the very beginning and he talks about i've seen these things i've experienced these things it's not just a rumor um the wonderful things i'm going to tell you i experienced personally um and he will talk about how we are given life through Jesus. And in verse 3, as he talks about this life, he'll say this, that we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And what John says is, as Christians, we are in fellowship together in two directions, right? One is through the death

and burial and resurrection of Jesus, we now have fellowship with God, right? We don't have to hide, we don't have to run away, we don't have to be fearful, but that we are, as Christians, part of the family of God. And I think most of us, when we think about communion, that's the relationship we think about. We think about the good news of the gospel, that God sent his only son to take our place on the cross, dying for our sins so that we could have eternal life. And it is a wonderful, encouraging, convicting, focusing moment. But John says something else about the Christian life. He'll say, so that you may have fellowship with us. You see, the Christian life goes vertical between us and God, but it also goes horizontal between you and me, between each other.

And as we gather around this table, we're reminded of the sacrifice that brings us salvation. We're reminded of hope we're reminded of new life but we're also reminded that we are not alone right we gather at this place of fellowship which in the first century meals were your big form of fellowship who you ate with says these are my people and it's not an accident that Jesus institutes a meal for his church to remind us that we are not alone and so as we gather and as we break this bread may this be an encouragement to our soul as we consider the good news of the gospel that God loves us that he sent his son who died for us that our sins are forgiven and we have hope in heaven but also that we've been made part of a family that we have brothers and sisters in

Christ who love us and care for us and walk with us and that we are not alone so I'm going to pray and we'll read from Scripture together and partake of the Lord's Supper. Father in heaven, thank you for this moment of refreshing and of fellowship and of hope and of focus. So may in this moment, may we focus our minds and our hearts and our lives on the good that you have done for us through your Son, that we may remember his sacrifice, his body and his blood that were given so that we could be forgiven and brought into a new relationship with you. Thank you for that hope. But also as we eat together, remind us of each other, that we have brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are not alone, and we do not walk alone,

and that you have given us your people to encourage us and to be a family to us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Jesus will take bread, and he will distribute it to the disciples, and will say, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And after supper, he will take the cup and he will tell the disciples that this is the new covenant in his blood. And he'll call them and he calls us to do this in remembrance of him.

And while this reminds us and refocuses us and points us to the good news of the gospel, to Jesus and to his people, it's also a proclamation. Jesus will say, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And what he is saying to us is that when we eat this bread and drink this cup, we're declaring our allegiance, we're declaring our hope, and we're declaring where our life is directed toward. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this bread and this cup. Be with us as we open your word in just a moment. May you strengthen us, encourage us, teach us, help us that we would see the good news of the gospel, that we would see your love for the outsider, that you would see how you have invited us in to be part of your family.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to be in Acts, the 10th chapter. We're picking it up this morning in just a minute in verse 1. And we're going to do things just a little bit differently. Normally we have sort of a Scripture reading and then we spend time studying it. What I want to do this morning is our text this morning is a little bit long. It's 33 verses, and so what I want to do as we walk through this is we're going to sort of take it piece by piece, and so we'll take a look at a section and we'll talk about it. We'll take a look at a section and we'll talk about it, and we'll take a look at the third section and talk about it. And as we do, I encourage you to follow along in your Bibles or with the handouts or with

the words that are on the screen. And so in Acts chapter 10, you have a sort of a surprising turn for the church. In fact, this is going to occupy the next several chapters, and actually the sort of the resounding effects of this event are going to stretch not just through a couple chapters of Acts, but you're going to see it again in dispute in the church. In Acts chapter 15, you're going to see this moving through not just the New Testament, but through church history. This is a remarkable, wonderful, wonderful, pivotal moment in the life of the church. And so one of the traditions that I really like that Rachel has sort of established in our family is when our kids have a birthday, one of the things that just sort of happened the first couple times, now it's sort of something that she does intentionally.

We sit down with the kids and we look through sort of pictures when they were born, and and here they are as a baby, and we talk about when they were born, and we talk about, oh, and then grandma and grandpa came to visit you, grandma and granddad came to visit you, grandpap came to visit you. And we look through all of these pictures that I realize now, what it does is it cements the fact that you're born into part of a family. And it's a wonderful thing to look back and relive those memories. And for us, especially those of us who are not ethnically Jewish, this is sort of that moment for us where we look back at this picture and this is where we as people who are not Jewish are welcomed into the church of God this is sort of the the birthday of

the Gentiles coming to Christ and so we've been journeying with Peter as he travels and we started last week and we said he's sort of making this big loop he's gonna leave Jerusalem he's gonna head west. He's going to go up to the coast. He's going to move up the coast, and then eventually he'll circle back to Jerusalem. And he's been in Joppa for several days. He's getting about, he's getting ready to go to Caesarea. And one of the things that I think is important for us is to place the events of Acts chapter 10 in the sort of the larger context of Scripture. In Matthew, the 16th chapter, and this is a familiar passage if you've been in the church for any period of time, Jesus speaks to the disciples and he says who do people say that I am and so the disciples will come up

with all the answers that everybody gives you're a prophet you're John the baptizer all of these things then Jesus will make the question a little bit more personal and he'll say well who do you say that I am and if you remember it's Peter who sort of jumps up and says you're the Christ the son of the living God. And we call that the good confession. And Jesus will go on to say that the flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, Peter, that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. He'll say, on this rock, I will build my church. And the rock he's speaking there is Peter's confession, right? That Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus is going to say something interesting to Peter. He says this, I will

give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And we might say, well, that seems strange. What are these keys to the kingdom? And the simple fact of the matter is that the keys open doors, right? So when you get home and your house is locked, you get out your key and you open the door. And so before anybody can go into that house, the key has to be put in, the door has to be unlocked. And one of the remarkable things you see in these first 10 chapters of Acts is Peter opening the door for the gospel for all kinds of different groups. So in Acts chapter 2, it's to the Jews who are gathered on the day of Pentecost where Peter gets up and through the Holy Spirit

proclaims the good news of the gospel. What happens? The door to the Jewish people are open and the gospel is proclaimed. And then as Philip goes and testifies in Samaria, people want to hear about the gospel and they begin to believe. And so what happens? Some apostles, Peter and John, come to Samaria, the enemies of the Jews. And what happens? Peter proclaims the gospel, the Holy Spirit is given and the door is open for the Samaritans to come into the church. And here in John, or in Acts chapter 10 Peter is called the house of a Gentile and what's going to happen he's going to proclaim the gospel the Holy Spirit's going to be given and what the door to the Gentiles is going to be opened it's no accident that Peter is opening these doors to different groups of people and

we see how God in his plan has put all of these things together so as we look at our text this morning we're going to take it into three parts we're going to meet Cornelius we're going to Meet Peter, and then we're going to sort of put them all together. So let's read the first eight verses. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. A devout man who feared God with all his household gave alms generously to the people and prayed continually to God. And about the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision, the angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared with him in terror and said, What is it, Lord? And he said, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon, who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. And when the angel spoke to him and had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among them, those who attended him. And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. So we meet Cornelius, who is a Roman soldier, specifically a centurion. And so what happens, the way that the Roman army is organized is that it's organized into legions of about 6,000 men. And those legions are then organized into cohorts, about 10 cohorts of 600 people. And then those cohorts are organized into centuries or groups of 100 men, right? So when you hear centurion, you hear that word century, which means a hundred.

And so Cornelius is a commander of a hundred Roman soldiers, part of this cohort, the Italian cohort, part of a bigger legion. And what you find is that in the Roman army, centurions are sort of the backbone that holds the Roman army together, right? They're responsible for their 100 men, but they're also responsible sort of up the chain to organizing and moving those men according to their orders. And so centurions are sort of the backbone of the Roman army. And what's interesting biblically, I think there's like seven centurions mentioned throughout the entire Bible, and every single one of these centurions is a good guy. The Bible doesn't say negative things about these centurions. So generally, they had good character. They generally were good, responsible men of the Roman army. And so this centurion specifically is spiritually searching for something.

And so he has turned his back at this point on the pagan gods of the day, right? The Roman gods that normally would have been worshipped, which would have included worship of the Roman emperor. And he's searching for something else. And we see his faith. He's a devout man who feared God. We see his giving where it says he gave alms. When it talks about to the people, likely that means to the Jewish people. So he was, while he wouldn't have been a member of the synagogue because he wasn't Jewish, he was giving money to support the Jewish people. And then we see it in his continual prayers. And as he is praying one day, probably about 3 p.m. in the afternoon, There is this vision, and it's sort of humorous how it's written, because the angel of the Lord shows up and goes, Cornelius.

And he goes, who are you? He's scared. And the angel says something remarkable. Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And I want to look specifically at what that means and what is happening when the angel relays that message to Cornelius. So that word memorial before God, we think of memorials as sort of big statues. The word here is literally an offering. So there was an offering that Jewish people would make where they would add some spices like frankincense and it would put out this sort of sweet, savory aroma, something that you would smell and you would say, that smells good. So it was like this morning when I put the cinnamon rolls in the oven and came up here to make sure all the lights were on and the air conditioner was set right, and I went

downstairs and said, man, it smells really good like cinnamon rolls. I wonder who's responsible for that. Oh, that's me. I'm responsible for that, right? And we've all experienced that, right? We walk in and there's dinner cooking in the house and we say, man, that smells good. Or our neighbor fires up his barbecue and you go, man, that smells good. somebody's baking a cake and we say, that smells so good. That's the picture of Cornelius's prayers before God. That God, as he hears, it is something that is pleasant and wonderful to Cornelius. Now, what's the point of all of that? Simply this, God loves to hear people pray. God is not bothered by your prayers. God is not annoyed by your prayers. We've all had that experience where we've asked something of someone, and they acted so annoyed to help us. Maybe not intentionally, but that's

how we felt. We say, man, I don't really want to ask them for anything anymore. In fact, this week there was a perfect example. I went to get Rachel her coffee, and I went to one coffee place to get hers, and then I went to the place where I normally get coffee, but not anymore after this experience, And I ordered my coffee, and I'm there like eight out of seven days a week. Like, I'm there a lot. And I pull up to the drive-thru, I say, mobile order for Brandon. And the lady doesn't say, hello. She doesn't say, how are you today? She just like slaps my coffee by the window and then walks off while scowling at me. It doesn't make you feel great, right? Especially when I went to Rachel's Coffee Place, and it's like, hey, how are you?

Such a great day. I hope you enjoy this wonderful coffee, right? And it makes you feel a certain way when someone is excited and joyful versus someone who you're obviously putting out by asking them for something. And you and I sometimes are discouraged in our prayers because we think, well, am I bothering God? Is this too small? Does he want to hear what I have to say? And here is this picture of the fact that God is not resentful, he's not bothered, He's not too busy, but he loves to hear his people pray, and I love that picture, and it's so encouraging for us that the God of heaven, the creator of all things, loves to hear you pray. It's a wonderful thing. Now, the scene here is going to shift to Peter. We'll pick it up in verse 9.

The next day, they went on their journey, and approaching the city, Peter went up to the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. So that's about noon. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat just like we do when it gets close to noon. And so while they were preparing it, people in the house are making lunch. It says he fell into a trance. And what that means is he sort of literally took leave of his senses, right? He wasn't paying attention to the roof or the sun or the heat. But he's up there praying and he saw the heavens open and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth, and in it all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, and there came a voice to him saying, Rise, Peter,

kill and eat. And Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came again a second time, What God has made clean do not call common. And this happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. And so what God is doing is He's working to prepare Peter. And we saw a glimpse of that last week. We know that Peter is going to the house of a Gentile, something that no good Jewish person would do. They wouldn't want anything to do with the house of a Gentile. But God has begun to prepare Peter, first of all, by having him stay at the house of Simon the Tanner, a man who ceremonially in the Jewish religion would be unclean because his primary work involves dealing with dead animals.

And so God has begun preparing Peter, and now he's going to continue to prepare Peter with this vision. Now, this vision seems a little bit strange. And I remember several times during my youth, either during Sunday school or children's church, the Sunday school teacher, the children's church leader, what they do, they bring in a big bed sheet. And in some cases, this was my parents. It's like, gather up all your stuffed animals. We're in Acts chapter 10 today. And you get there, and you throw all your stuffed animals into a sheet and hold it up, and you kind of act out what is happening here. And looking back on it, a little strange thing is kill your stuffed rabbit and eat it. It took kind of a weird turn. But that's really a picturesque thing happening here, right?

This sheet that's just full of animals. And it's like, Peter, you're hungry. Here's some food. Go ahead and get the food. And Peter says, no, thank you. Now, here's the thing. Peter's objection to eating these animals is not because he doesn't like them, right? It's not like, no, thank you. I don't like giraffe. No, thank you. I'm not interested in eating this snake. Peter's objection is not based on what tastes good or what doesn't taste good, right? This is not a matter of liking or disliking. This is a matter for Peter of right and wrong, right? Under the Levitical law, some animals you were allowed to eat, some you were not. Because God had set his people apart, and he says, my people don't eat these things. And so Peter, this was not just a, I like this or I don't like this.

This was being asked to commit some kind of sin. It'd be like riding down the road with your friend, and they look over at you and go, hey, let's stop and rob that bank, right? That's not a matter of preference. That's a matter of right and wrong, right? That's a matter of breaking the law. And what Peter sees himself being asked to do is, I don't do that. I don't break the law. It's not that he doesn't like this food. It's that it's a matter of doing what is right or doing what is wrong. And God just gives him this simple message that in the moment we find that, I think for Peter, it's a little confusing. God just simply says this, what God has made clean, do not call common. Nor another way of saying it is, what God has made clean, do not call unclean.

And God does something remarkable. He doesn't just tell Peter this once, right? He tells it to him a second time, and he repeats this vision a third time, and he does that because you and I are hard-headed, right? We're stubborn people. And sometimes we have to hear something over and over again. And Peter is just like us. And so God drills into his head this message. What God has made clean, do not call unclean. You say, well, why does that matter? We see it in verse 17. Now, Peter was inwardly perplexed. He goes, I don't understand what God is trying to tell me. As to what the vision he had seen might mean, behold, men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate, And they called out to ask whether Simon, who was Peter, was lodging there.

And while Peter is pondering the vision, so he's going, what does this mean? And as he's trying to figure out what this sheet full of animals means, these guys show up to talk to him. And they find the right house. And the Holy Spirit says, behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say. So he invited them in to be his guests.

And so this is a weird moment for Peter, right? He's trying to figure out what this vision means about clean and unclean and about the rules that he's followed his entire life. and these people knock on the door, and the people looking for him, one of them's a soldier, right? So your guy who's seen some persecution in the church, you've already been jailed a couple times, and somebody knocks on the door, and there's two servants and a soldier, and say, hey, the Romans are looking for Peter, right? You have to go, whoa, what is this all about? And they said, well, he wants to talk to you. Hear what you have to say. So two things I want you to see through what is happening so far in our text. One is that God works powerfully through prayer.

Prayer isn't just us simply bringing the list of things to God, although he simply does want us to ask for the things that we need. But prayer is also God working on us. So notice when Cornelius' vision happens, what is he doing? He's praying. When does Peter's vision happen? When he is praying. When do both Cornelius and Peter receive direction from the Lord? While they are praying. And we're emphasized here in Cornelius' case that prayer is something that God loves to hear and it's pleasant and it's wonderful and it's good. It's during prayer that Cornelius is directed. It's during prayer that Peter is prepared and God wants to hear you pray. God works through prayer. Secondly, God's timing is always perfect. Now, I don't know about you, but we sometimes struggle with timing. Have you ever tried to coordinate to meet somebody somewhere?

And what happens is one person's always early, one person's always late. So one person's always waiting, one person's always rushed. I remember the first time Rachel and I made Thanksgiving dinner. You know, and you have like turkey and mashed potatoes and side dishes. And I'm trying to figure out how long the turkey goes. And it's like, well, how can we time all this to be done at the same time? And guess what happened? None of it was done at the same time, right? Mashed potatoes are ready. Turkey still has like two and a half hours to go, right? We're not oftentimes very good at getting everything done exactly at the right time. But notice how God works in this perfect timing. It can only be the hand of God. Cornelius has a vision. He dispatches his servants to get Peter.

Peter is hungry, goes up on the roof to pray till lunch is ready. God gives him a vision. The vision ends and Peter's going, what does this mean? And the very people the vision relates to are knocking at the door downstairs. The only way the timing works out like this is because God is providentially in control. God's timing is always perfect. Now, we may not always see that. Sometimes in our impatience, we don't feel that way. But we see it so clearly in this text that God times everything in accordance with His will and perfectly. And so we see the power of prayer. We see this sort of strange vision. We'll see what it means here in a second. And we see how God works all these moving parts together so perfectly. Let's pick up in verse 24.

And the following day, so they get up and they leave from Joppa and head to Caesarea. About a 30-mile walk, they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them, and he called together his relatives and close friends. So Cornelius isn't a guy just to sort of dip his toe into the water and say, well, let me hear, and then we'll sort of spread it out from then. He calls all of his friends, calls all of his close relatives, fills up his house, and he's waiting for Peter. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up, I too am a man. So Peter doesn't take credit, Peter doesn't allow himself to be worshipped. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered.

So he thinks he's meeting with Cornelius, walks in and there's a giant crowd. And he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with anyone or anyone of another nation. but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I asked then why you sent me, and Cornelius said, Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house, and at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa, ask for Simon, who is called Peter, for he is lodging at the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea.

So I went at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear what you have been commanded by the Lord. The central verse in all of this is 28. Peter said to them, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. Right? The message that God has repeated to Peter three times is that what God has made is not unclean. What God has made is not unclean. What God has made is not unclean. And what God is telling Peter is that the gospel is for everyone. Because prior to this moment, Peter would not have darkened the door to this house.

God had specifically come to a vision and say, I want everyone, right? Not just Jews, not just Samaritans, but I want everyone. And the wonderful truth is, if you are outside of Christ looking in, you don't have to be afraid that God doesn't want you. You don't have to ask yourself the question, am I supposed to be here? Am I allowed to be part of the family of God? because what Peter says is it's for everyone. Not just for the Jews, not just for the Samaritans, but for the Gentiles. It's for all people. And Christians, for us, this is a convicting statement because we have a tendency sometimes to look down on others. To look at other people and say, well, I'm pretty good, but they're not. And Peter's moment here with this vision and with Cornelius

remind us that God wants all people. That He's called all people. That He loves all people. And He wants them to hear the Gospel. Ephesians 2 says it this way. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances so that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to you who were near. For through him we both have access

in one spirit through the Father. And the wonderful news of this text is that God hears your prayers. He loves to hear your prayers. That He's at work when you pray. He's at work in the life of Cornelius as he prays. He's at work in preparing Peter as he prays. That God's timing, even though it might be surprising or strange to us, works out in accordance with His providential plan for the good news of the Gospel. And the message that's repeated over and over, three times to Peter, is that God wants those people that you might look at and say, unclean. That God welcomes them in, and as Paul says in Romans, he reconciles us both to God in one body through the cross, killing the hostility. He came and preached peace to those who were near

and those who were far off. For through him, we both have access in one spirit through the Father. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for grace. I thank you for hope. I thank you that you hear us when we pray and that you love to hear the prayers of your people. I thank you that you work in our prayers. I thank you that you are at work preparing us for things that we may not even understand in this moment. We thank you for your timing and we thank you that you have invited us all in to be part of your family. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's stand and sing our hymn of invitation. Who am I that the highest king would welcome me? I was lost, but he brought me in, oh, his love for me.

Oh, his love for me Oh, the sun sets free Oh, it's free indeed I'm a child of God Yes, I am Free at last he has ransomed me His grace runs deep While I was a slave to sin Jesus died for me Yes, He died for me Who the Son sets free Who is free in Thee I'm a child of God Yes, I am In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me I am who you say I am Who the sun sets free Who is free indeed I'm a child of God Yes, I am In my Father's house There's a place for me I'm a child of God

Yes, I am I want to thank you all for being with us this morning. We are so very glad that you are here. We'll be back Wednesday night as we've been walking through some of Paul's prayers. being encouraged and taught by how the Apostle Paul prays. So that's Wednesday night at 7 p.m. We'll be back next Sunday as we continue our journey with Peter. We've seen how Peter gets to Cornelius' house. Now we're going to see what happens next, which is a surprising and wonderful thing, I think, for Peter and for Cornelius. That'll be next Sunday. We'll finish up Acts chapter 10. Also, if you didn't know, we've got some cinnamon rolls and coffee, and there are some cupcakes from Ezra's birthday party in the back. I would just ask that you leave the banana walnut ones for me.

They're also sugar-free, although you can't tell. They're really good. So help yourself to a cinnamon roll or a cupcake, and spend some time being encouraged by our brothers and sisters in Christ. So I'm going to pray, and then we'll read a verse, and then we'll sing the doxology. Father in heaven, thank you for the good things that you've given us. Thank you for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you for your church. Thank you how you have taken people from different places and different walks of life and different ages. And you've brought us all together to be part of your family, not just here, but throughout the world. So thank you for that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So John, as he ends his first letter, will say this, We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding

so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Let's sing the doxology.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow Praise Him all creatures here below Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.