This week's Sermon from First B Jackson- February 16th 2025
First B Jackson
2025-02-16

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

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Before I get going, this is the passage for today, Acts eleven one through 18. I had something kind of come up spontaneously in the first service that I I hate to say something there that I forget to mention here. So, I don't know if y'all know this but I'd I'm six six. I played basketball in high school. I played a little here and there and got a lot of intramural, and I love to play basketball.

I loved it. It was my favorite kind of past time activity, and I like to play the game. I do not like foul shots. I do not like getting fouled. Actually, I don't mind getting fouled.

I don't like getting called fouls. Right? I can take a good hard hit. Go ahead. I don't mind blood on the court.

That's fine. I don't care if it's my butt. I just don't want to have to stop the game, turn off the clock, and just have everybody look at me. I hated that. That was my least favorite part of basketball and if I shot 90%, it might have been fine but I shot about 40% and it was not fun.

For everybody to look at me and I'd sit there and do the rhythm exactly right. Deep breath, clear the mechanism. Get ready. Bong. I hated it.

Just hated it. So, I would rather play and be in the mix and not have I'd rather not get the foul call. Like, you know, I wanna I wanna just keep on going. I can keep on putting it up until it goes in even if you're hitting me. I like to play basketball.

I don't like the feeling and then, as I was thinking about that, I thought, my job every Sunday is to be the one up here where everybody's looking towards me and I I like to be in the mix and when before I came here to be the pastor here, we're missionaries. Y'all knew that and we were in the mix all the time and occasionally, some might say, tell us the story of how you got here and we'd tell them the story but it wasn't usually everybody looking towards, you know, full first service, second service sort of stuff. That's not normal for me and we really really appreciated being in the mix of being on the field and it felt like being called out was a lot like that foul shot to me to stand up here and just have everybody looking. I thought it would be my least favorite time and I am happy to report it's not. I enjoy it and God has specifically kind of empowered.

It was not like the free throws, okay? It's still has not empowered those free throws. That being said, here we go into the text and I think it might come back around towards the end. I I had not planned on mentioning it this morning. How it ties in, we'll see.

We like being in the mix. I I mentioned a few sermons back that Samaria like Philip had he was one of the deacons. He was getting things done, kicking up dust, and then in Samaria, he was getting things done and the spirit was growing the church dramatically and then all of a sudden Philip was pulled away for a specific task. He gathered back in with them, you know, but he continually went forward with the gospel. Acts eleven one through 18.

Here we are. If you are familiar with Acts 10, this is going to look a lot like last week because the clicky clicky clicker is not clicking, Blake. Still not. Still not. Hey, here we go.

Okay. So, here we are. Acts, we're going just one through 18. Soon, now, remember last week was Cornelius and Peter? I'll tell you the whole story here in a minute because Peter's going use the whole story.

Soon, the news reached the apostles, the apostles, the sent out ones, the other ones, the other 11, right? That were the official officials that Jesus had sent out and the other believers. So, there are lots of believers in Judea at this time. Soon, the news reached the apostles and the other believers in Judea that the Gentiles, the nations, all of the other, the heathens, if you will. The King James translated heathens quite a bit.

Ethne, All of the ethnicities. Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles. Remember the ones we call dogs? That's what the Jews called the Gentiles was dogs, those outsiders. Soon the news reached the apostles and all the other believers in Judea, land of the Jews that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

But when Peter, what's that?

Did it work this time?

It's working now. Yeah, it's working. Sorry. Okay, good. Thank you.

You got batteries or something. I was wondering why you took your perch right there. Thank you. You're so helpful. Thank you, Blake for thinking about me.

When when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem. Now, remember last week, we began it with Peter was staying in Joppa at the house of Simon the Tanner and then, he was called up to Caesarea and so he left from staying at Cornelius' house. Cornelius the Gentile, he was staying at his house and he came back to Jerusalem. I bet he came back on purpose. It doesn't say he was called back by them but he went back but when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers..dot, what do you think they did?

He just spread the gospel to the dogs. They criticized him. The ones who were of the circumcision criticized him. They objected to the gospel going forward. Hey, they're believers.

They're Christians. They're supposed to know that this is for Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and even the uttermost parts. Well, yeah, that's fine in theory but then when it actually starts to happen, these Jewish believers criticized Peter for doing that. They said, you entered into the home of a Gentile. We're not supposed to do that.

You know we're not supposed to do that. I wore blue jeans today. Second service people. I wore blue jeans today. Partially remind me to say this, in Mexico, while we were down there, we'd take teams of, you know, 60 white people usually and we would go into a little church.

We have a whole bus full of gringos. We'd go into a little church out in the colonials. We'd overwhelm them by double their numbers. Mostly women and children in church and we would all go in in mission trip attire and wander into the church and I just say, blend, you know. And occasionally, somebody say, I thought Ray was a Christian.

He's wearing blue jeans. Christians don't wear blue jeans in Mexico. Like, they just, that's a tradition. I didn't know that. I showed up wearing blue jeans.

I'm American. I'm not a Mexican. I I didn't know that but you entered into the home of Gentiles, ethne, ethnos, others, dogs, hiddens, you went into the home of a hidden and you even ate with them table fellowship in the New Testament. You cannot overstate the importance of table fellowship. It's really really important.

You entered into their home and you didn't just enter in their home because you felt like you had to. You ate with them. It's a big deal and we heard about it. I heard about it from Caesarea to Jerusalem. They heard about it already when they got there and then Peter told them, exactly.

It says, precisely. Luke says at the beginning of his gospel and at the beginning of Acts two, I'm trying to give you, Otheophilus, an orderly account of what happened and Peter is trying to do the same thing. If you are familiar with the story from last chapter, you are going to hear just the facts, ma'am, a Joe Friday version of what happened. Just the facts, not the subjective how you felt about it, just the facts. Peter told them exactly or precisely what had happened.

Here here's the way it went, Peter says. I was in the town of Joppa, which is Jaffa, Tel Aviv Jaffa. It's where the airport is in Israel these days. I was in the town of Joppa, he said, and while I was praying as is my custom up on the roof, I went into a trance and I saw a vision. Okay.

Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky and it came right down to me. Now, Peter is the head of the apostles. He was the head of the disciples as, you know, practically speaking at least and here he is away from Jerusalem up on the roof. It came right down to me. And when I looked inside of this sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, clean and unclean, reptiles and birds.

And I heard a voice from heaven say, get up Peter, kill and eat them. And I reacted just like you would have. Peter says, no, lord. No. That's not my tradition.

That's not the way I've been raised. That's not good. That's not okay. But it was a voice from heaven. No, I replied.

No, lord. I replied. I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean. That's exactly the same sentence that we saw in chapter 10 and he says, but the voice from heaven spoke again and that voice from heaven said, do not call something unclean or impure or common if God has made it clean. We know Cornelius, well, actually, we, let's let Peter tell the story.

He was a god fearer. He was looking towards the light that God had revealed to him. The voice from heaven spoke again. Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. This happened three times, three times with the sheet coming down to him and the voice from heaven saying, do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.

This happened three times before that sheet and all it contained was pulled back up into heaven, sent from God, and taken back to God. Just then, right then, at the same time, put yourself in my shoes. Three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. Now, the Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry. Actually, it says, make no distinction.

Not to worry about the fact that they were hiddens, Gentiles, dogs, Ephne. The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry. Make no distinction that they were Gentiles. Meanwhile, this is from chapter 10. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, he doesn't mention that.

When he's telling the story right here, he doesn't mention. I was still wondering too. I was still in my head puzzling over what in the world could this mean? But in chapter 10 it says, meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, three men have come looking for you, get up and go down stairs and go with them without hesitation. Make no distinction.

Don't worry for I, the God, Holy Spirit. God, I have sent them. Peter said, well, you know it's against the laws for a Jewish man to enter the Gentile home. God, you know this. You're the one who told us this, aren't you?

But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. I should not even not even think of them as impure or unclean. So, I came without objection, making no distinction as soon as I was sent for. Now, these six brothers, right here, these six brothers, they were, they accompanied me. They went with me from Joppa in the first story.

It says, some guys from Joppa went with him. In Jerusalem, after what happened in Caesarea, which was a huge leap forward for the history of the of salvation, right? When it's leaping over cultural bounds into Samaria is one thing, they already had part of the Bible and we know that for him to redeem the Samaritans was unthinkable but the Gentiles, that's crazy. Here you go but these six brothers are right here. They can corroborate everything I said.

Who are these guys? They're witnesses. These six brothers were here with me. Ask them the questions. They'll tell you the facts as they happen too.

These six brothers right here accompanied me and I I should back up and say, throughout Acts, we see the word witness come up. The root word for witness is martyr. These people are willing to go to the grave to say what they have seen Jesus do. These six brothers here accompany me and we soon entered the home of the man. That's what they're charging him with is entering into the home.

They we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us and he told us directly how an angel had appeared to him in his home. Think about that. The angel was in his home. The angels went before him, before Peter, and before these six other guys and the ones who brought him there. He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, send messengers to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter and he will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved.

I said last week and I I mentioned and I read the little blurb about visions. God given visions. He gave a vision to Peter and he gave a coinciding vision to Cornelius and Cornelius' vision said, send for a man named Simon Peter. It's pretty specific and Peter's vision was less specific but he said, make no distinction who it is that shows up. You just go with them.

Nobody's impure. Nobody's unclean. Go without hesitation. We have seen this kind of thing happen multiple times in Acts so far. We see Saul struck on the road.

Right? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now when you get up from here, you go to this place and you stay with this guy, here's the name, and then God appears to a believer in Damascus named Ananias and he says, Saul has been struck. He's staying on a street called Straight with a guy named Judas. I want for you, Ananias, to go to Saul and Ananias said, but but but but but but wait a second.

Saul's the one who's coming here to kill us. Saul's the one who's coming here to arrest us. Are you sure about that? He goes, yes and I've already told him you're coming by name. So, the vision is lining up both ways.

I I mentioned that church in Mexico. The pastor there, his name was faithful, Fidel is his name, Fidel and he was faithful to always bring a message from God's word and he only missed one Sunday while I was there and he had a really bad injury that Sunday and he was not able to be at church and his his weeping wife came in and said, I'm not the pastor of this church but he's not able to be here. It's sudden day before yesterday had this accident on his bicycle and I'm here instead. So, every Sunday, he always brings a faithful message. She brought a faithful message that day in his absence.

It's a good story about God's work too right here. I have every single time that I did that story, I was telling you when I take 60 people in. This time I only had nine people but they were a men's team and the nine people on this men's team, men always carry cash when they go out of the country. It's just the way it is. That's why we get robbed so often but they have cash and I usually would say, hey, when we go into this church, we don't want to overwhelm their offering plate.

So, a dollar or 2 is probably gracious plenty. If everyone of y'all nine guys put in a 20, it would overwhelm their plate. Let's start preaching to us instead of preaching to their people. We don't want that to happen. We've seen it go bad.

Don't overwhelm the plate. Dollar or 2 is probably fine. I usually gave that speech outside in the bus before everybody got off and then we went in there and people usually went with that. Sometimes, there'd be somebody. It's a it's a little blessing here and there above that but most of the time, people listen to it.

In this case, I forgot. It's a men's team. They're all carrying cash. They they haven't had time but they got there Saturday night and this is Sunday morning. They hadn't even broken their bills yet and I thought, oh, this is going to be bad.

And now, there's a lady upfront instead of ma'am which for some churches that would be a real real problem and so I thought, how is this going to go? Lord, forgive me. I forgot to do that speech and when she got up and she said what had happened to Fidel, they had the money to pay for all his medical treatment and his lost wages and it was in my goofiness, forgetfulness, my lack but it was by his spirit. It was so sweet. Okay, I'll get back to the story.

Sorry, that got, I got sidelined. He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved. The visions that people get very often are not that here's how to be saved. It's here who to see and he will tell you how to be saved. The gospel is carried forth face to face, person to person, and all of us that have received that gospel can carry that gospel forward.

Back on Fidel. One Sunday, we get there and speaking of these corresponding visions. One Sunday, we get there and Fidel comes over to me and says, Ramon, I was like, do you have the word? And I was like, which word? He said, well, God didn't give me a word for today.

He didn't show me what it was that he wanted for me to share and I thought but it's Sunday and you're a preacher. Sure he did. He's given you a whole book. It's right here. He goes, no, I figured that since I knew you're going to be here, I figured that he must give the have given the word to you and if that was the case, I didn't hear it directly from God but you know what?

I got up and I spoke anyway and it was blessed because anytime we do present the gospel of here it is how you and everyone in your household can be saved. The gospel is the gospel is the gospel And if you get the chance to share the gospel, by all means, share the gospel. Share the light of it in the way that you live your life and share the actual words of the gospel. Let them know. As I began to speak, Peter continues.

It was right then. As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them in exactly the same way just as it had fallen on us at the beginning. Do y'all remember how that was? Do you remember when we're all gathered in the upper room? They're about 120 ups there and the apostles and the greater crowd and do you remember when the Holy Spirit fell upon us and we began speaking in other tongues where people were able, that's the same thing that happened.

As I began speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on them and it was evident. Just as he fell on us at the beginning and then, I thought of the Lord's words when he said, John baptized with water but you and he was talking to us when he said it, y'all. Y'all will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. It's going to happen and they had seen it happen and he says, I've experienced it myself, testimony. And since God gave these same gifts to the Gentiles, and since he gave it to them just in the same way that he gave it to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was out of standing God's way?

He's saying, I don't want to be an impediment for the work that God has for me. I don't want to be an impediment for anybody. We're supposed to be a light to the nations and when Jesus said we're going to be his witnesses, he said in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria and to the very uttermost parts. Who is out of standing God's way? It didn't feel right to me at first just like it doesn't sound right to you right now but I realized that this is what God was doing and I was just along for the ride.

I want to be faithful. I want to be fidel. I want to be. Who was that to stand in God's name? Wait.

So, when the others heard this, when the others heard this, what do you think they did? Now, the first time, when he get before he got there, they were ready and we walked through the door, they start criticizing him. We heard what you did. Well, when they heard his defense and it was a real defense, they criticized him and when they saw or when they heard what he said, they stopped objecting. Praise God.

It happens sometimes. People hear what it is that God is doing and they say, wow. Blue jeans might be acceptable in church. Who would have thunk it? Wow.

When others heard this, they stopped objecting and they began praising God. Think about that. They weren't praising God when they were criticizing him. Those two things are beautiful. That's only half of this verse.

It goes on from there and they said, these were the people who started out criticizing him. They said, we can see that God has also given, not just us but to them. God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins. Do you think of it that way? Do you think of repentance as a privilege?

Repenting of your sins says that you recognize what they are. And these folks, I mean the Jews knew they had Torah, they knew they had the law, they knew they had the rules even after Jesus had come. There was a lot of figuring out exactly how this goes now that Jesus has fulfilled the law, are we still supposed to go by it? Chapter 10 was a huge leap forward in saying the dietary laws have come down so that you may have table fellowship and you may enter into the homes of people who don't know me. They said, we can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sin and of receiving eternal life.

It's not just for Jews anymore. It's not just for this little group. God chose them to be carriers, to be conduit for the good news of the gospel, and for the proclamation of sanctifying grace, right? So, that's the last verse that I have. I'm going give you a preview of next week and then I'll go into a little bit of a story.

We are way short of the normal time. I only had less than half the number of slides I usually do and didn't take a a lot of time, but the preview of next week. Carl will be preaching next week. I'm gonna steal a little bit thunder here. Give you at least the passage.

He'll he'll have a good take on it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen's death traveled as far as Phoenicia and of Cyprus and Carl has maps for next week, alright? Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch of Syria and they preached the word of God but they only did it to Jews. You know why? Because they didn't know it was time yet.

They hadn't had the experience of Peter and Cornelius. They hadn't heard anything about it. They were spread out and this is why Paul says for the Jew first and also for the Greek. He's being chronological about it. So meanwhile, believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen's death traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch of Syria and they preached the word of God, but they only did it to the Jews.

However, think about this, some of the believers, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus, Barnabas is from Cyprus, and Cyrene, Simon, the Cyrene. Those two began preaching to the Gentiles. They were having the same kind of feeling that Peter had. Who knows if he gave them a vision or not? We don't know that but they knew that Jesus had said it's for Jews, Jerusalem, Samaria, uttermost parts and so they started sharing the good news they had with the Gentiles before they even knew if that was alright.

You can share the gospel with anybody. You don't have to worry about whether it's alright, okay? Don't think of anyone as impure. Don't think of anyone as unclean. Some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.

The power of the Lord was with them, power often Holy Spirit is called the power of the Lord. The power of the Lord was with them and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. Carl will get into that as well as much more next week but I'm going to kind of announce trip. Tanya and I are going on this, we're actually flying from The US on the twenty fourth. We're going on sort of a missionary encouragement tour.

So for the next four Sundays or so, I won't be the one preaching. Carl will preach next week. I think Brad's got a couple of them. We have a missionary visiting for the for the sixteenth, I think it is of April but Tanya and I are going out. It is a normal thing in the book of Acts and in the modern church.

It is a normal thing for the spirit of God to pull people out of a place and put them in another place for a time. We don't have any plans for going and staying. We're planning on coming back. Okay? But we have been plucked and like Philip and Samaria was plucked to go down on the road towards Gaza.

And we feel like we are being plucked for a while to go over and do a missionary encouragement tour in Africa. Tanya and Carl coming forward now.

I would like to pray

for you. Okay. You can allow me to. That would be great. Thank you.

But we're we're going. Hopefully, we know where we're going to to begin with. Ministries in South Africa that I've had something to do with over the last fifteen years and we're having something to do with mission missions in Kenya that Tanya's had something to do with, had something to do with the founding of for the last thirteen years and we're going over there. We know where we're doing on the front side. We know what we're doing on the back of the tail end but the middle part, we don't know exactly what's going on in the middle.

So, we're praying for the divine appointments that might be seen as interruptions if we weren't praying for them to be divine appointments. We would also pray that y'all or ask y'all if you would be praying for us as we go. We're going to be gone for about a month to Africa and then when we come back, we'll give you a report. I'll have maps. I promise.

We'll let you know all that the Lord that we have seen, you know, a lot of that sort of stuff. So, thank you and thank you.

Yeah. Would you and and would you stand with me and and maybe just extend a hand forward if you would. I I just I I wanna pray. God, you know how dearly dearly we love our pastor and pastor's wife.

First lady.

The first lady and and lord, you've been preparing this journey for for a long time and here, it's coming And, Lord, we know that you have prepared in advance for what they are to do. And even if they're not aware of it right now, they will be because you're gonna impress it on their hearts. And we pray for those divine appointments, for those, for for you to connect the dots, Lord, and and we see it over and over and over again in acts, and this is just it's an extension of that. God, your church is still moving, and it's growing, and, you're putting, people together with other people. Lord, you are sending them on this missionary encouragement tour to do just that and we ask your blessing, lord.

We ask for each appointment that you make for them that God, you would divinely connect the dots that you give them just the right words to share. You'd give them the right people to meet, and we're looking forward, lord, to what you're doing. So we ask your blessing as they go, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Love Thank you. And the benediction today is actually from Romans 10, I believe. Is that right, Blake? Yeah, hit me.

Thank you. Romans ten nine ten says this, if you declare it with your mouth Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it's with your heart that you believe it's and and you are justified and it's with your mouth that you profess your faith and you're saved. Lord God almighty, I pray that you would go before each of us, not just the ones who are being sent out to the farm field, lord, but would you go with each of us into our jobs, into our past times, and into our normal walk a day lives. You sort, say, lord, as we are going, we are to be making disciples.

Baptize them, yes. That was great last week. Thank you for that lord but also teaching them to obey all that you have commanded us. Lord, may we walk following after you, all of us. In Jesus name, would you carry us forward and let us recognize the divine appointments you have for us.

Amen.