No Favoritism With God
First B Jackson
2025-02-09

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

----
Thank you, sir. There we go. All is well. How are you this morning? I feel like we could just have a conversation.

We We have had a time this morning that is just glorious and I'm still kind of floating on a cloud. Somebody said when they left, they said, good luck with that next service. Because they could kind of see it but I'm going ask you to stand and we're going to just carry on doing what it is that we do, praising our lord and savior for the blessed assurance that he gives and I'm looking forward to another beautiful time. The family of God. Here we are.

Blessed assurance.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story. This is my song, praising my savior all the day long.

This is my story. This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst on my side.

Angels descending, bring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story. This is my song, praising my savior all day long. This is my story.

This is my song. Raising my savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at lost in his love. Is my story. This is my song, praising my savior all the day long.

This is my story. This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long.

Amen. Amen. And for our next hymn, we're gonna have wonderful grace of Jesus. Do you know your part? We're gonna see.

Wonderful grace of Jesus. Not everything that's in this song is on those screens, but if you know your part, sing it with confidence. How about that?

Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe it? Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free for the wonderful grace of Jesus Oh, magnify the precious name of Jesus. Praise his name.

Wonderful grace of Jesus reaching to all the lost. By it, I have been pardoned, save to the uttermost. Chains have been torn us under, Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it greater far than all my sin and shame. Oh, magnify the precious name of Jesus. Praise his name.

Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it greater for than all thy sin and shame. Oh, magnify the precious name of Jesus. Praise his name.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. That was galloping and I think that was all on me stomping my foot. Good luck with that second service, they said. I'm pretty amped.

Here we are at the announcements. There is Awana tomorrow night. There's not a slide for it, but it is happening. And Carl mentioned that there would be ice cream. So there we go.

Ice cream at Awana tomorrow night, 06:00, starts out right here and spreads out all over the church. Teton Valley, Idaho Fellowship is happening this Friday. That's the second Friday of the month and it's happening. Emily Anderson's phone number is up there on screen. If you'd like, you can call her and she could tell you more about where you meet and when, but it's on the second Friday of the month.

Started last month and it's time for it this week on Friday. Men's snowmobile retreat, the twenty twenty five men's snowmobile retreat is February 21 to the twenty third. It's a $120 a person. That's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday coming up fast. It's two weeks from this weekend.

One twenty per person. Richard Largie is the guy in charge. That's a fun time. It's a beautiful place. I will not be able to go this year, but I can vouch for.

It's just great. The food's good, company's good, and the snowmobile and it's pretty much world class. So the JH Women's Community Bible Study is meeting this go round down at Gateway Church in Rafter J. It's 10:00 to twelve noon at Gateway, and it's a great time. Carl and I have been a part of the band a couple of different times, and it's They're just It's wonderful.

It's really, really good. Ladies, you owe it you owe it a chance. You know, give it a chance. Nehemiah rebuilding together. There is another ladies small group forming.

It meets on Mondays at 7PM, started February 3, so you're getting in on it on one of the first weeks. Annika and Lauren are the ones that are in charge of that. It's young adult ladies. Community formation is happening right now. And I I missed this one in the first service, I forgot about it.

It's a 12 part series on building joy, and retraining your brain, and promoting health healing, the life model. Steve Gilmore, this is what he mentioned a couple of weeks ago. He calls it a restarting group. So restarting where you might have been on track at one time, but you've kind of fallen off track for whatever reason, and it's a good community way of retraining your brain to live healthy. So that's a good healthy attitude.

So struggling to experience joy if you feel like you're stuck, it's a way to get unstuck. February 12, so that's this week. Also, 6PM in the youth purple room downstairs. You can contact Steve if you want to. First, be in the Bible.

We've been going through this. I had a chance this week to write one of the blurbs, but there are like 40 authors within the congregation that are writing these. And I wrote on Matthew 22. The next folks have long passages from Deuteronomy to write on, which is wonderful. Pascal said, you got a chapter from the end of the gospel of Matthew, and I got five chapters from Joshua.

I said, well, alright. But that's the way it goes. Firstbjackson.org, you can sign up for it. It's an email in your inbox every weekday morning and that's a pretty good fun time. This is the first Sunday we've been we've announced the time frame on VBS.

It is June 23 through the twenty sixth. It's kind of a save the date. June 23 through the twenty sixth. I know it's a ways coming, but the preparations are already underway. And the theme this year is road trip.

You all know me, I love a good road trip. Cokes Barre kids is the packet that they're going with, but road trip is the theme, June twenty third through twenty sixth. And there is a Super Bowl party today. I don't think I even meant well, I mentioned it in this announcement, but I don't even think I thought about that today. Super Bowl party is for youth group middle school and high school.

All of the youth groups from all the churches around town are gathering down at Gateway at 4PM. Hey, miss Crystal. I've been praying for you. I didn't see you back there. I'm glad you're back.

Thank you. You were snowed in. I know. I'm I'm so thankful you're here. I was like, I gotta check-in with her.

Thank you. Thank you. Sorry to call you out. Lots snow. I heard.

Lots of snow in Pinedale. Has anybody else got an announcement that I have missed? Okay. Let's take a deep breath together. Lord, thank you.

I'm so so overwhelmed by your goodness and your grace. You are indeed wonderful. Your name, Lord. It's in your name that we pray. It's in your name that we gather.

It's in your name that we are able to call ourselves by your name. It's just an amazing thing to be called the children of God. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Your name truly is wonderful. Amen.

Would you stand with me? And we'll sing probably a couple of times through his name is wonderful.

Name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my Lord. The rock of all ages.

Almighty God is here. Bow down before him. Love and adore him. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my lord.

Let's sing it again.

His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my lord. He is the mighty king, master

Amen. And he is indeed worthy of worship. Let's sing worthy of worship. Worthy of praise.

Worthy of worship. Worthy of praise. Worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all the glad songs we can sing, worthy of all of the offerings we bring. You are worthy. Worthy Father, creator, you are worthy.

Savior, sustainer, you are worthy of all this and added to these. You are worthy. Father, creator, you are worthy. Savior, sustainer, you are worthy. Worthy and wonderful worthy of worship and praise.

You are worthy. Savior, sustainer, you are worthy. Worthy and wonderful worthy of worship

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. Thank you, Francis and thank you, Steve. And Bob.

Lord God, I'm so thankful to be here this morning. I'm thankful for your goodness to us, Lord, and I'm overwhelmed by it. This morning during the first little sound check where it's just a couple of people present, and then as the band gathered a little at a time, it grew, Lord. And I just think about what we're reading today, the apostles being your witnesses, and I think of us being your witnesses and singing your praises. And Lord, the plan has remained the same.

Your plan a is that humble and obedient believing servants would go forward and just tell the truth about what Jesus has done. In Jesus name, we gather. In Jesus name, we pray and in Jesus name, we ask that you would bless and multiply this offering to do your kingdom work, lord. Whatever it is we want to be doing your will in your way. In Jesus name, we're thankful.

Amen. Wow. Thank you, Judy. This service, We have been going forward in the study of Acts and y'all know that. We're up to Acts ten one through actually, should be 48.

It's their 48 verses in this in this chapter and we're gonna cover them all. This morning, we had a baptism that was scheduled. It was three quarters of a nuclear family. So mama, Jenny, Sherwin, and Nico, and Finley all got baptized during the announcement time and it was fun and it was beautiful and an encouragement for me, for them, for the body, I hope and then towards the end of the service, we have water in the tank up here, you know, and so I asked if anybody would like to be baptized and another fellow Max came and was baptized at the end of the service and it's just beautiful. So, just beautiful.

The circumstances of scripture are so wonderful if we will let them be, Right? The circumstances of this guy's life and what was proclaimed today, just simply tell the story was exactly what God was needing to get him where he needed to be and that's what he said after the service is over. I have I'm overwhelmed by God's intricate connections and how he does, what it is that he does and this week, Penny, I got touch with my buddy Mahindra and he goes, he is an elder at the church I'll attend in South Africa. Way Yang is here somewhere. He's from Inner Mongolia.

Ernesto started this thing off a few weeks ago being baptized from Mexico. It is amazing what God is doing. I just am kind of whelmed with it, overwhelmed with it maybe. But here we go. Let's get into the text of scripture and just see what it was happening in that time.

It's still the same plan. In Caesarea, Caesarea is Maritime Caesarea which is on the seashore of Northern Israel. It is up on the seashore. You can see Tarsus up top where Paul Saul is from. You see Cyprus where Barnabas is from, and then Caesarea is on the seashore.

And right there, now Caesarea, if you've been I know that some of you've been because we went together to Israel and if you go on a Israel tour, you fly into Jaffa, Tel Aviv usually and then when you start the tour, they take you up the Sea Coast to Maritime Caesarea. That's the that's the route right here. So, there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius. Roman officer named Cornelius, who was captain of the Italian regiment. He was a centurion, so he was in charge of 60 to a 100 men, that's a normal sized group for a centurion to handle, captain, and he was in the Italian regiment or the Italian cohort, and that was about a battalion size, if you're a military person.

That is not just a 60 or a 100 men, but it is much much larger than that. It's a battalion size, and that is where they were stationed. If you look back in history and you find archaeological evidence, you will find that in Maritime Caesarea, there was a Roman outpost there. So Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian regiment was a devout capital g, God fearing man. What he knew about God, he respected.

I won't go so far as to say this was a saved guy but he definitely feared God. It says so in the text. It says it multiple times here. It says it later in the text and then it says it in the next chapter. He was a devout, God fearing man.

Since it's a capital g, I believe that's a correct translation. He was a worshiper of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Okay? So, God fearing as was everyone in his household. So, they were in the process of it sounds like but they were not full proselytes to Judaism.

So, you can, if you know in first century Judaism, if you're an outsider and you want to come in, you have to go through all of the same sort of stuff that the Jews do in order to be a full proselyte. He did not make it to being a full proselyte whether he was going to or not, we don't know but he was a god fearer as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor. He recognized that God had been good to him and so he was good to others and he prayed regularly to God. And one afternoon, about 03:00, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming towards him.

Now, I know when you walked in here this morning, you walked past the sign that said First Baptist Church and you don't expect to be talking about dreams and visions. I know that but it's all over the New Testament. It's all over Acts. It is the way that God moves. One afternoon about 03:00, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God and it was coming towards him.

Cornelius knew him by name, Cornelius, the angel said and Cornelius stared at him and tear. Now, is that any different than anybody we've ever seen when they come in front of an angel? They all always are scared to death. Even a centurion who's got 60 to a 100 men that he could call, right? He's in a Roman kind of a a Roman town but when he sees this divine being, messenger, angel, Cornelius stared at him in terror.

What is it, sir? Now, the sir. I I highlighted it. In this translation, it's sir. That could have been lord with a small l and it could have been lord with a capital l because that is the range of meaning of Kirier.

Kirier is the word. What is it lord or what is it sir? He's scared to death. I think it might be more than a small s, sir. I think it's a little bit more.

He's like having in a holy vision with an angelic or divine being. What is it sir? He asked the angel and the angel replied, your prayers Cornelius and your gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering. Wow. That's beautiful.

Now, send some men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter. It's funny that a centurion who is in charge of doing giving orders, send somebody and that's what he does. Send some men to Joppa, summon a man named Simon Peter. The last verse that we read last week, the last two verses were this. The news spread throughout the whole town and many believed in the Lord and Peter after he'd healed the little girl, Tabitha, and Peter stayed a long time in Joppa and he was living with Simon, a tanner of hides.

Now, now send some men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying with Simon, a tanner of hides who lives near the seashore. Now, I showed you Caesarea is up here, Northern Israel and then Joppa is south of there about 30 miles or so, 31.25 miles to be exact according to Google Earth. If you fly into Tel Aviv, you fly into Jaffa, Joppa. And if you get on your tour right there and you start, it's about 30 miles before you get to Maritime Caesarea, and you will see the ruins of the things that were there that Peter would have seen on a trip or that though that Cornelius saw every day.

So, as soon as angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants. Do you recognize immediate obedience? He got a message to go to do something to send the people and he did. As soon as angels gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants who were also God fearers. We've already found that.

One, devout soldier. So, he sent a Roman army official along with him. That makes things a little bit safer, probably. One of his personal attendants who that word is someone who's very close to. So, he sent them down to tell him what happened and sent them off to Joppa.

So, he told him he had this divine vision of this angel, what an angel had said, and then sent him off to Joppa. Now, the next day, just as Cornelius' messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was his custom probably. We see Daniel praying several times a day, and it's up on the flat roof. It was about noon, and he was hungry.

I love that little detail. He was hungry, and while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. So now, Peter is beginning to see a vision. He fell into a trance. He saw the sky open.

It was not a dream. It was not at night. It was not when he was asleep. He was praying, he was hungry, and he fell into a trance, and he saw the sky open, and he saw something like a large sheet that was let down by its four corners, and the word right there, there's something like a large sheet. It's a linen piece of cloth.

It's big. The same word is used in the Bible and in Homer to speak of ships sails. It's used of covers on a bed. He saw the sky open and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. And in the sheet, there were all sorts of animals.

So all sorts meaning clean, unclean, the holy and the profane if you want to call that, the common and the acceptable in the sheet were all sorts of animals. There were reptiles and there were birds and then a voice came and said to him, voice from heaven now, get up Peter, kill and eat them. Oh, the hunters in the room are just like, yeah.

Kill and eat.

Get up Peter, kill and eat them. But Peter's a good Jewish boy, he's grown up and we've heard him say this before that he's kept the dietary laws, that he's kept the holy consecrated way that he learned growing up and he has not turned away from it and the voice from heaven says to him, get up Peter, kill and eat these critters. No, lord. Now, I've said a lot of times from the stage. You can either say, yes, lord because he's your lord or you can say no but you can't say no lord.

Well, Peter, that's exactly what he says. No, lord. Peter declared. I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. I'm very careful about what I eat.

I'm very careful about maintaining holiness and I don't want to ever do anything and I never have. It's a way of life for him. It is a it's the way that he learned and it's the way that he wants to go and it would sicken him to even think of anything. Other than that, I've never eaten anything. Every time I read this passage, it takes me immediately back to John four.

John four, the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus, why are you a male Jew speaking to me, a female Samaritan? I don't understand that. I know what you think of me. I know you think I'm dirty.

I know you think I'm impure. I know you think I'm unclean and common. I know what you think and you just asked me to draw water up from you, for you. Now, I don't get this. I don't understand what's going on here.

There are significant cultural boundaries between us. And then it says, he talked to her. They had this great conversation and she recognized who he was. He told her as much. You're looking at him.

You know, the Messiah, the prophet, the Taheb, the one that Moses talked about that would come and you should listen to him. I'm him. And it says, she dropped her water pot. She runs back into town. Come with me.

Tell, I'm going to tell you. He told me everything I'd ever done. He knew all about me and she was happy about that and she takes them back to him and invites Jesus and the disciples to stay with them and they stayed. It says, about three days. Peter couldn't eat anything in that town.

Peter couldn't eat anything in that town. There's nothing holy anywhere around. None of the buildings had been blessed, right? None of them were that's why they walked down next to the Jordan River and bypassed Samaria altogether, carried their food with them so they didn't have to eat that dirty food. So, can you imagine Peter?

Three days, I bet he was sitting there with his arms crossed hungry. I've never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and clean. It's really important for me to maintain this holiness, impure and unclean, common, defiled, but the voice spoke again. Undoubtedly, a voice from heaven spoke again. Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.

The same vision was repeated three times. If you didn't get it the first time, Peter, you got a chance to get it two more times, three different times a symbol of its complete perfection from heaven. It's the number of wholeness. Here you go, the same vision was repeated three times and then that sheet was suddenly pulled back up into heaven and Peter was very perplexed. What in the world could this vision mean?

Well, some folks have thought that he's hungry. He's sitting on a roof on the beach, listening to the flapping of the sails and the flags and that's probably what he's thinking. He's just there hungry. Here in that flapping and hearing, it's a Roman town. Smelling the smells of the street food and just that's what the vision was.

I think that that's a little short sighted. I think that we are dismissing the voice from heaven if we think that that's true and we're just being a little bit too naturalistic. Just then, as he is still perplexed and wondering what the vision could mean at exactly that time, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house. Standing outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. By the way, have you ever been to a tannery, an actual tannery that was working?

A tannery? I've been to one in Morocco. It is the stinkiest place you've ever been in your life. I barely have a sense of smell. I destroyed it at a screen printing company years ago, but I've been to a couple of tanneries, one of them in Morocco, and it's the stinkiest place you've ever been.

It's not hard to find a tannery. Okay? You don't need a beacon. You don't need a sign. That just go towards the stench and you'll find a tannery.

God prepared that in advance. Peter, stay at this stinky place until I send some people to find you. Outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon Peter was standing there and by the way, you also need to be near the seashore. It helps a lot if you have lots of water for a tannery. It's very important.

Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision still, the Holy Spirit said to him, we know the voice from heaven. The Holy Spirit said to him, three men have come looking for you. Now, get up and go downstairs. Go with them without hesitation. Actually, the the text is without distinction.

Don't make any distinctions. Yeah, one of them is a Roman officer. Don't make any extinct distinctions. Don't worry about it for I have sent them. He literally says, don't worry about it.

I've sent them. Go get up, go downstairs, go with them without distinction. Make no distinction. So, Peter went down and he said, I'm the man you're looking for. Now, just stop for a moment and think about in this time, we had Saul going out a few weeks ago and Saul's going out to what?

Arrest Christians who believe in the way. You think Saul was the only one doing that? There are people that are looking for Christians. They're looking for Christian leaders and so, Peter without distinction. He he just goes down no fear whatsoever.

I'm the guy you're looking for. I don't have any idea why you're here. Why have you come? And they said, we were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer, centurion. He is a devout and a God fearing man.

Capital g. It's the right one. Okay? He believes in God. Doesn't mean that he's saved.

He believes that there is a god and he orders his life based on the fact that there is a god. He is responding to the light that he has. Okay? He recognized in the Jews a holiness that he did not see in his countrymen. He recognized in the scriptures something that had the ring of truth and he most likely attended synagogue probably he's devout and he's God fearing with capital G.

He was well respected by all the Jews but he still wasn't a full proselyte. Still wasn't a full Jewish guy. Now, why he wasn't? I don't really know. I I threw a speculation out in the first service and I I I don't know why, but there are a lot of things that are difficult, but circumcision is one of them.

That's not something that would have been practiced by the Romans, not something that would have been practiced by him, it might have been for a full grown man and something he didn't want to do. And so he was not a full member of their fellowship. There's a significant cultural barrier still left there. We're sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He's a devout and God fearing man.

He's well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message. So, Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day, he went with them. Now, you know, they left.

This vision for Cornelius is three in the afternoon and then the preparations and figuring out and calling the guys together. They walked throughout the night with rest stops. They get there just around after noon and Peter invites him to stay for the night, bring him in without distinction, making no distinction. Come on in. Stay the night.

The next day, he went with him. Now, it's okay actually. You could invite a stranger into your home. You just couldn't go into their home. That was alright for the Jews.

Okay? You're not supposed to go into their home, but you're supposed to be good to the foreigner and the stranger. You're there's no doubt about that in the Old Testament. If you read Genesis, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, you read any of the Old Testament and you are supposed to be good to the outsider because you once were an outsider in Egypt. Be good to him.

Plan a little extra in your field so that passersby can reap from the edges of your field that you're not even supposed to harvest. You're supposed to let them harvest that. So, there's no doubt about how that is and Peter being the good little Jewish boy that he is and haven't had this vision. He invites the men to stay for the night. The next day, he went with them accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

So, he makes the trek 31 and a quarter miles up to Caesarea and they arrived in Caesarea the following day and Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and his close friends. Ain't that cool? I I got something. So, I thought that I might not get any resistance but I might get some incredulity. Okay?

That I might have some folks crossing their arms when I start talking about visions. We know it's the Bible so it's okay but this still happens. It still happens. If you're active in the missionary world, this still happens. I called a buddy or I texted a buddy yesterday and I said, hey, can you send me of the thousands that you have?

Can you send me a two minute story about someone having a vision that leads them to someone to tell them about Jesus? Can you send me something? Out of the thousands you know and I know that he knows thousands of them. He was actually here this morning with us, the guy I texted. I said, would you mind telling that story?

And he said, why don't you just read it? I'm editing it now coming right up, and he sent it to me. So this is a miracle story from Youssef. On 11/28/2024, just a couple months ago, on November 28, I drove with my family up into the mountains near the Holy Land to enjoy the day, and perhaps buy a few small things from widow refugees from Gaza. They make small crafts to support their children.

As the sun set, I moved away from the crowd to pray. A few minutes later, an older widow named Miriam approached and asked to speak. I asked her what was on her heart and he said and she said, I'm sorry, and I asked her what was on her heart and she said, last night, God came to me in my dreams and his face was as bright as a shining star. In my dream, I asked, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, your God.

And I said, what do you want from me? And he said, I want you to change your generations. I want you to go back to your land which is Gaza, and I want you to fight with the devil. And I said, how am I to do this? And he said, tomorrow, you go into these mountains and you will see my holy man.

First, cook him some sweets for him, and then feed him this sweet dish, and then ask him about me. And Miriam began to cry as she told me this story. She looked at me and she said, how can I follow Jesus? I was afraid at first when Miriam approached me, think about think about Peter as a Roman soldier outside, and you don't know what's coming. You don't know.

This guy, Youssef is in the same actually, by the way, I know Youssef. I met him. I didn't know that until after the service today, but I I know this guy. Been praying for him for years. Yousef said, was afraid at first when Miriam approached me, but when I saw that she had been crying, I sensed that she was seeking God and I replied, okay, I I will tell you about Jesus.

And she said, wait a minute, and then she walks off. Several minutes later, she brought back nine men, 13 women, and 26 children. I've told these folks about my dream and about the holy man. She handed me the sweets. The Holy Spirit came among us and I I began in Genesis introducing them to the most high God.

I took them through the book of acts. One of the men stood up and said, how is it possible that I have not known about this for my whole life? And I said, God has come now because he has plans for you beginning today. I explained to them the work among refugees and how Jesus came to die on the cross, forgive them of their sins, to free them from the devil and guarantee their way to heaven, and after many hours of conversations, they all decided to follow Jesus. We made a hand chain and we prayed together, and then they said, Jesus wants us to spread his name in Gaza.

How do we do this? And I told them we'd talk tomorrow at the same place because first, they needed to learn more from the holy book and early the next day, our family began cooking food from the gifts that had just come to us. Sorry. I didn't know this in the first service either, but the gifts that had just come to them came from the churches that support this ministry that went to Youssef because Youssef had been without power for thirty days. He had not been able to cook and eat like he normally did.

There had been all kinds of stuff, but this church and other churches sent through an organization to get to him when he got the money, what he used it for was this gathering. Cooked a bunch of food all day, returned up to the mountain to meet Miriam and her friends. This time, she brought 486 people. Eight of them had received dreams from Jesus the night before. They had many questions and we spent all night talking and reading from the book of Acts.

At 4AM, all of them were water washed, baptized for Jesus. This is a miracle that only God can do. Amen. Yeah. It still happens.

You notice though that the vision didn't say, you're saved. The vision said, go and see this guy and he'll tell you. Face to face, person to person is the way that is God's way. He's got plan a. It's that the people who believe in him will tell, oh, that they will be witnesses.

Yeah. They arrived in Caesarea the following day, Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and his close friends like this Miriam did. As Peter entered his home, that's huge, huge. Peter, good Jewish boy, going into a Gentile's home. When he entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him.

And Peter pulled him up by the arm and he said, stand up, man. I'm I'm a human being just like you. I don't there's nothing nothing about me that is to be worshipped. I'm a human being just like you. Pulled him up and said, stand up.

I'm a human being just like you. So they talked together and they went inside where many others were assembled. Peter told them, you know, you know it's against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. You all know that. I know that you know that.

There's a prejudice that's been around for a long long time, not that it was from God, but it definitely was from their practice of Judaism. We know that the Jews are supposed to be a light to the peoples. We know that Jew the Jews were supposed to carry this message to the nations, but they had set up significant barriers that they were the good guys and everybody else were the bad guys. We do that ourselves. You know it's against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or associate with you, but God, amen on the but Gods in scripture, but God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.

God has shown me. Was that just for Peter you think? Was it just for Peter? No. It's for us.

But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure, unclean, common or profane. So, I came without objection. I came without distinction. I came without hesitation as soon as I was sent for. Now, tell me why it is that you sent for me.

What am I here for? I'm just following the spirit and I'm here. I'm in the right place now. Why am I here? And Cornelius began to tell the story.

We're going to hear the Cornelius story a few times. Cornelius replied, four days ago, I was praying in my house about this same time, about 03:00 in the afternoon, and suddenly a man in dazzling clothes. There he is. 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. What an encouraging message that is.

I'm not crazy. Right? I'm not crazy. I believe in God. Believe he's been good to me.

I'm gonna be good to others. It's that simple. Your prayer has been heard and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God. Now, send messengers to Joppa, summon a man named Simon Peter. He's staying at the home of Simon.

It's pretty easy to find. It's a tannery. He lives near the seashore. So, sent for you at once without hesitation. Instant obedience is the norm in scripture and I will say it's easier to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when you get used to obeying what it is that you hear.

So I sent for you at once and it was good of you to come. Thank you for being here. Now, we're all gathered here waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you. Peter said, or he replied, I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. Is that a typical thinking for a first century Jew?

We're the chosen ones. Honestly, is it a typical thinking for a twenty first century Christian? Not always. We're the chosen ones. We're his favorite.

There's no favoritism with God. He is simply using the ones who know him as a channel of blessing to the ones who do not yet know him. Peter replied, I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism and James tells us, brothers and sisters, don't hold your faith in our glorious Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism where you think that we're the good guys and they're the bad guys. Oh, everyday people. This is Sly and the Family Stone.

I put this in and I thought I'm probably going to take that out. Maybe I'll take it out for the second service. And then I thought, oh, those are the folks who knew Sly and the Family Stone when they were singing. Sly and the Family Stone. Do you all know the song Everyday People?

And every It's so and so is a white one that done like the black one that done like the red one that don't like the yellow one, the skinny ones, the fat ones. We gotta live together. It says, we gotta live together. I am everyday people. The band, their band was making no distinctions.

I'm not glorifying the lifestyle but I do glorify that message. It's good. In every nation, Ephesians. In every nation, he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. God's spirit is going before you and he is active even among those who do not yet know him.

And the people who respond to the light that they have, he gives more light. Now, there's a dangerous there's a dangerous middle here that if you go over there and you think that it's in every God's already there. Whatever they believe is fine as long as they're sincere is absolute heresy, okay? It doesn't matter and then you have to be right on every single point of every theological discussion, right? No.

In every nation, he's he recognizes Cornelius' prayer just as somebody who honors and reveres him. He recognizes his acts of service though he's not yet saved but he is leaning towards the light that he's been given. In every ethnos, every family, nation, heathen, Gentile, it's translated a lot of different ways but ethnicity, that's where we get our word. In every ethnos, he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. Not just hearers of the word, but also do doers.

And this is the message of good news for the people of Israel, Peter says. The good news of for the people of Israel is that it is for everybody else and we get to carry that message. The message of the good news for the people of Israel is that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all. Amen. Now, you know what happened.

It's interesting that that Peter gives this this statement at the beginning is kind of a one, two, three. One is, there's an impartial God who sent Jesus to be the way and then the next is about Jesus' life, death, burial, resurrection. The kerygma, the gospel, a proclamation of the facts of what happened. You know what happened throughout Judea beginning in Galilee after John began preaching his message of baptism. Y'all have heard it before.

You know what happened and you know that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. That could be a reference to his own baptism where he literally was anointed and the Holy Spirit lit upon him and a voice from heaven said that he was his beloved son. It could just mean it in general. You know that God anointed Jesus and the Holy Spirit with power and then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil. For God was with him and we sent out ones, apostle, apostolos, apostle means those who were sent out.

We apostles are witnesses of all that he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem and uttermost parts. He he actually got over to Decapolis and he got further up than that but we were witnesses with him of all he did throughout Judea and Jerusalem and now, I hear witnesses in the book of Acts and it is all about witnessing and testimony and we've already seen this this many times. Acts one, you will receive power. Jesus says, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth in Acts one twenty two and they're considering who is it that should replace Judas in our number, the 12. Now, for it needs to be somebody that from the time of Jesus was baptized by John until the day that he was taken from us.

Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus' resurrection. In Acts two, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, God raised Jesus from the dead and we are all witnesses of this fact. They're proclaiming the good news. Witnesses. Now, it goes on.

Chapter three, when they're arrested and they're facing the Sanhedrin. Y'all killed the author of life but God raised him from the dead and we are all witnesses of this fact. Chapter five, we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit who is given by God to those who obey him and then the verse we just covered, Acts ten thirty nine says, we apostles are witnesses of all that he did throughout Judea and Jerusalem and they put him to death by hanging him on a cross but God raised him to life on the third day and then God allowed him to appear not to everybody, the whole general public. He didn't send him all over the world. He sent them to us and to us whom God had chosen in advance that we would be his witnesses.

I have to say, that's what he calls us to be as his witnesses, not his lawyers who are arguing his case and not the judges who have decided who is good and who is bad. He's just calling us to be his witnesses to what are the facts of the matter and honestly, there's no theological argument against transformed life. If Jesus has changed your life, you can say that. It matters to other people. If you would say that.

We hit it again in 1041, right? Here it says, not to the general public but to us whom God has chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were the ones that ate with him and we drank with him after he rose from the dead and he ordered us to be preaching everywhere even Caesarea, Roman town, and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God and the judge of all the living and the dead. He is that. There's no was there.

Jesus lives and we are his continuing body. He is the one. All the prophets testified about saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name. Now, even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. I love that text that I read a minute ago that she gathered up some folks in a few minutes and then when she had a day, she gathered up 486 more.

It's just great. The Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message and the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed. They're they're good little Jewish boys. Right? They raised to know this is how we are and that's how they are.

They were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, the nations, ethnos too, for they heard them speaking in other tongues. They heard them praising God. It was very reminiscent of both the day of Pentecost and what happened in Samaria. Should they have been amazed though? If they knew their scriptures well, they would know Joel which Peter used on the day of Pentecost but this rings in my ears a lot of the times that then after having done all of those things, I will pour my spirit out upon all.

For some reason, the word got taken away there. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. In those days, I'll pour out my spirit on the servants, both men and women. I'll pour it out on all and that's what was happening. They were witnessing it.

I think it is still amazing even if you know it's coming to see it happening in your presence. Then, Peter asked, can anyone object to their being baptized? He's looking around. Is there anything that stopped Cornelius and his household and these folks that he's gathered? Is there anything?

All of them believe. The Holy Spirit has accompanied the gospel message. They're all believing in him. They were already fearing him. They were leaning towards the light that they had and now that the light of Jesus has been shown in this place, they have accepted it.

Can anyone object to their being baptized? Do we need to put them on six months of watch care? Do we need to have them fill out a form? No. Can anyone object to their being baptized now that they have received the Holy Spirit just like we did?

They believe in Jesus. They fear God already. So, he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Praise God and afterwards, Cornelius asked him to stay with him for several days. That took me twenty minutes longer in the first service.

Don't know why. God is so good and he still does things the same way. In the scriptures, it is pretty much universal that when someone gets a message from God, they respond to it immediately. There there are a few differences there. Jonah didn't.

You know, there are a few others that they didn't. But I wanna give you a chance. Here's water back here. We're gonna sing a song eventually, but here's water. What hinders you from being baptized?

If you're a believer in Jesus and you've never been baptized before, we'll figure out the clothing situation. I'm giving you Ephesians, formerly Flickinger channels funeral service on Saturday in Sheridan, and her favorite flower was a sunflower. And I probably will spend a little bit of time in the funeral message, think, talking about the sunflower, how sunflowers were designed by God to look towards the light. That is the way that they get the light that they need, right? And so, east.

Sun comes up over there and the sunflowers looking that way. You know, it starts at night. It's like this but then when the sun comes up, it's looking towards it and all day long and if you see a whole row, a whole field of sunflowers, all of em are following that light and I think that the more light principle shows up here in this story more than most anywhere else in the in the New Testament that I know of, but I do see that people respond to the truth that they know is the way that that God gets things done. So this week, somebody who's normally sits on this side church in another service, and somebody who normally sits on this side. This person said, I need for this to get to these people.

Would you hand it off to them? They don't need to know where it came from. Yep. Be glad to. That story of Youssef, this guy who sat here this morning said, tell me what you need.

You can't just go without cooking and eating and everything else. I need to know what it is that you need. I will send the funds. And the guy said, this is probably what it'll cost. The guy sent it when they needed it.

They ended up feeding 486 people with the money instead. God knows what he's doing. We don't have to know what he's got for us. We just gotta know the next step. Here we are.

Where he leads me, I will follow. Would you stand with me and we'll sing this song. The offer is always open, still open, it's open. If you let me know, I will fill that baptister again, alright? Where he leads me, will follow.

Lord, would you help us on that?

I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. Take thy cross and follow. Follow me.

Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him, all the way. I'll go him judgment.

I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him through the judgment. Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him all the way on the last.

He will give me grace and glory. He will give me and glory.

Amen. Now would you I just wanna pray. Lord God, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, lord, that you do give more light to the plant that leans toward the light. You do give more life to the person who leans toward your light. I pray lord that we would be reflecting more light on the ones who don't know you yet, that we'd be doing that by looking to the light ourselves. In Jesus name, I pray that you would shine on us and off of us through us to the rest of this world. You are a good God and we want to declare it, lord.

In Jesus name, amen. Amen.