Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 6

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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 6 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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about this, but there will be an adults class, so hopefully you can make it
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for that. This morning we're continuing in our study on the challenges that the church
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will always face. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and turn it to
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Acts chapter 10. As you're turning there, we've kind of looked at several things already
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as far as challenges the church has faced, and we'll cover 3 chapters today.
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But let's just start with this: what would you say is the overall,
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like, the main idea in the book of Acts? What's the main goal of the
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church in the book of Acts? What is the church supposed to be trying to
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accomplish in this book? What's the main objective as far
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as you see it in the book of Acts? What would you say?
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Establish and preach the gospel throughout all the world. That's right. That's what Jesus said
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in Acts 1:8. He says that you'll receive power
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from on high. The Holy Spirit will overpower you. You'll be witnesses unto me in
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Jerusalem, in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost
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parts of the earth. So what you're reading about in the book of Acts is
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literally the church trying to fulfill this mission in Acts 1:8. These are the marching
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orders from Jesus, and according to to Jesus. This is
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what successful Christianity looks like. The church would have succeeded if
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they fulfilled what's found in Acts 1:8. So here's a question. We're up through chapter
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9. So far, just based on what you know from Acts chapter 1 through
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Acts chapter 9, how would you say the church is doing so far?
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Well, thumbs up or thumbs down? That'd be easier for some of y'all. Yeah,
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I would say great. Um, Acts 2, first time the gospel's preached,
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3,000 people become Christians. That's Acts 2:41. Acts 2:47,
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God's adding to the church. By the time you get to Acts chapter 4 and
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verse 4, Luke says there's 5,000 Christians counting at least just the men.
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And so the church is off to a great start. There's even been some evangelism
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in places like Samaria. Acts chapter 8 and verse 4, those that are scattered
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abroad go everywhere preaching the word. Acts 8:12-13,
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Philip goes down to Samaria. So remember Acts 1 and verse 8,
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Jesus says you're going to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, So far, so good.
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Acts 8:12-13, even the Samaritans believe when they
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hear Philip preaching, and they're baptized, and the church is off to a great start.
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So far, so good. Acts chapter 9, convert one of the
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greatest members of opposition to the early church. Saul of Tarsus becomes a
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Christian. And in Acts 9:36, there's even this summary statement,
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Acts 9:30-32, about how much peace the church was enjoying
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and how satisfying the times were because they were doing God's business. But then Acts
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chapter 10, there are new challenges, new difficulties. And I'll just go ahead and tell
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you, one of the challenges we'll spend most of our time talking about today is
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the welcoming in of the Gentiles. And it's not just the case— this
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is in Acts 10 and Acts 11. Acts 12 is kind of a standalone.
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But Acts 10, the challenge of welcoming in the Gentiles is found in
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Acts 10 and in Acts chapter 11. This will be the challenge really
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throughout the rest of the book of Acts in a lot of ways. And you
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could argue it's the challenge throughout the rest of the New Testament. How do Jews
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and Gentiles get together into this family and be God's
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people the way he wants them to? You really can't read any letter of the
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New Testament, especially any written by Paul, without this coming
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up. What's required of the Gentiles? What's not? Should the
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Jews bind Old Testament kosher laws and rituals like circumcision, or should they not?
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This challenge, which is ultimately begun and kind
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of solved in Acts 10, but it'll keep reoccurring and keep coming up. So,
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as we look at this challenge, it's important to see Most of what
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you read in the New Testament surrounds how to deal with this issue.
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And as you think about it, just think about Jesus early on in his ministry
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setting the table for Gentile inclusion. In John 10 and
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verse 16, Jesus says, other sheep I have which is— which are not of this
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fold. Them I must bring in that there may be one flock, one fold,
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and one shepherd. In John 10, Jesus is talking about himself being the
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Good Shepherd, but then he says, hey, other sheep I have which are not of
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this fold. Who is he talking about? Talking about the Gentiles and bringing them in
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throughout Jesus's earthly ministry, as he was kind of setting the table for Gentiles
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to be included. Can you think of any occasions when Jesus
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encountered Gentiles, and how did it go? In Jesus's
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earthly ministry, so just think Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus's primary mission was
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to the Jews, but there were occasions, select times, when Jesus
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encountered somebody who wasn't a Jew, or at least not a full-blooded Jew, And how
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did those interactions typically go? Can you think of
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some occasions? Woman at the well, she's a Samaritan,
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mixed blood. How did that go? Great. You could say
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John 4 sets the table for Acts 8. When Philip gets to Samaria, the ground
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has kind of already been plowed because she went throughout all of Samaria saying,
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come see a man who's told me everything I've ever done. Could this not be
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the Christ? And so, they kind of already had the pump primed by Philip,
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so it went well, the Samaritan woman. Who else? Any other Gentiles?
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In Matthew 8, Jesus comes into contact with the centurion. Matthew 8:5-13,
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you remember, centurion says his servant is sick at home. Jesus says,
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I'll come and heal him. What does the centurion say? I too am a man
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under authority. I have servants. I say to one, go, and he goes. Another,
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come, and he comes. To my servant, do this, and he does it. You don't
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have to come. Just do what? Say the word. Jesus says, I haven't seen great
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faith like this, not even in Israel. There's another occasion when
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a Canaanite woman— Jesus is on his way to do a miracle, and a Canaanite
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woman, Matthew 15:21-28, Mark calls her a
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Syrophoenician woman. She comes up, and what does she do?
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Pulls the hem of his garment. And what happens with her? She's healed. And there's
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the men that are demon-possessed in the Decapolis, those 10 cities, in Mark
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7:21-27. Here's what I'm telling you. The challenge that the church
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is going to face that we're going to read about in Acts 10 and throughout
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the New Testament Jesus was already priming the pump for it throughout
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his earthly ministry, and every single time— there really isn't an exception to
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this— every time Jesus encountered Gentiles in his earthly ministry,
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it was always positive. Even at the crucifixion, the centurion says,
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truly this is the Son of God. And so, he was trying to get the
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church ready. My mission is going to be broader and wider than just the Jewish
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family, and I want you to take the gospel into all the world. But the
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church struggled with this, and they would. So, here's our question to start our
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class. What made this such a big challenge for Jewish people,
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like this sharing the gospel with the Gentiles and welcoming them in?
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And somebody may say this later, so I'll just say it now.
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There's sometimes a discussion about Cornelius being the first
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Gentile convert, and some people say, well, what about the Ethiopian eunuch? The Ethiopian eunuch
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may very well be a Gentile, but there's something unique in Acts 10 that I
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think puts this in a different category, and I believe this is the first Gentile
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conversion. But if you think it's the eunuch, It doesn't really change anything about the
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class. So just in case somebody has a question about that. But if you were
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a Jewish person in the first century, based on what you read in the New
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Testament, what made this such a big challenge for them?
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Jews bringing in, welcoming in the Gentiles. What made it so hard?
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Heritage. What was their heritage?
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They were the chosen. Okay, so they're God's chosen people. Yeah, Exodus 19:5-6,
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God says you're a chosen generation. A royal priesthood to be.
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Does that sound familiar? That sounds like 1 Peter 2:9, but it comes from Exodus
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19:5-6. Okay, they've got a chosen heritage, so they're the special
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people. What else made it hard for Jews to reach across and welcome in Gentiles
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fully?
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Yeah, what the apostles start preaching is going to be a challenge and different,
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and of course, this is going to make it hard for the Jewish people as
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a whole to accept them in, but Jewish people hearing this for the first time,
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hey, Gentiles are welcomed in just like you, that would be a challenge. Any other
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things that would make it difficult.
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Neil? Yeah, I think we fail to see that this
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is a God-approved division in the Old Testament, at least to a certain extent.
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So, God had told His people, Leviticus 20:26,
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do not have fellowship with these people. Deuteronomy 7:1-5,
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don't intermarry, break down their shrines, don't serve their gods.
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So, you got the law commanding them, hey, whatever you do, don't engage with
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the Gentiles, unless, of course, like Ruth or somebody they want to convert. But other
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than that, Do not engage with them. So they got this rolling around in the
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back of their mind. They have their heritage. What about the food laws? This is
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a big deal. What do the Gentiles eat?
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Anything. Yeah, pork chops, right? The Gentiles eat pork chops. The Jews don't
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like that. Leviticus 11, this is a big deal. Peter's going to say this,
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or they'll say it to Peter in Acts 11, the food laws are different.
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Leviticus 11 gave strict food laws that the Jews were allowed
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to eat certain things and not eat certain things. And okay, if the
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Gentiles are going to come in, what are we going to do when it's time
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for a fellowship meal? This is a big problem for them. The food
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laws, what they were taught. And here's one more thing,
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what other Jews were going to think about them. Never discount this,
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that you can know the right thing, but peer pressure and what other
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people— listen, it was hard enough that their Jewish countrymen are saying, hey, you guys
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are following this new upstart religion, and now you're having dealings and eating food
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and worshiping with Gentile people? Even worse.
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And so they had a challenge to not give in to this peer pressure from
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their countrymen. All right, anybody else? All right, let's flip
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the tables and then we'll get into Acts 10. What would have made this hard
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for the Gentiles? I think we always think about the Jews, like this would
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have been hard for Jewish people to welcome in the Gentiles, but what did the
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Gentiles have to overcome to become Christians? And what would have made fellowship
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with Jewish people challenging for those of Gentile origin?
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Yes, Miss Laura.
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Yeah, I mean, they've got bad blood. If you go back to the Old Testament,
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hey, the Assyrians, Gentile people, took the Jewish people, Israel, into captivity.
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Babylonians took them. They've got this friction among themselves from
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ancient history. What else? You're a Gentile. What makes it hard to come into a
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Jewish faith or Christianity that's really founded on ancient Judaism? What would have been hard
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for Gentiles? Joey?
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Yeah, I don't think we think about the steep
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learning curve of Gentile people. Paul says things like in 1 Corinthians 10, he'll say,
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hey, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning our fathers. That passed through the
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sea. And he starts recounting stuff from Exodus and Numbers, and he's basically saying
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to these Gentiles, hey, you've got to get up to speed. You've got to learn
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this Bible. You should know these things. It would have been hard being a Gentile
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and coming out of pagan religion, and you're worshiping with people who pretty much— I
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mean, when you're 12 years old as an ancient Jewish boy, you've got Genesis through
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Deuteronomy committed to memory, not to mention the prophets and the Psalms.
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And here you come right out of Aphrodite's temple, and you're in Bible class with
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these people that know a lot more than you. So that would have been a
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challenge. Miller? They knew that they were looked down
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on by the Jews, and so there was animosity. They hate
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us, we hate them. Yeah, there's some friction. Miss Laura mentioned that. Yeah, they don't
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like us, we don't like them. What else? You're a Gentile person coming into this
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new faith. What would be challenging? Kim?
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That, and I'm going to put 2 things with that. Kim mentioned circumcision.
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Let's put the food laws together. Here's what would have been a challenge if you're
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a Gentile. You need to be interested in the sensitivity of the Jews.
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You can't just come here and act, well, I'm a Christian, God says it's okay,
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and you see these people are struggling and you're just like, hey, this is what
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we're gonna do. Hey, I'm not circumcised, I eat pork, I do these things,
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I don't do the ceremonial washings. The Gentiles would've had a struggle, and Paul deals
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with this throughout the New Testament. Don't rub your liberty in the face of these
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Jews who've got this long heritage of doing things a certain way. Here's the last
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thing, and then we'll get into Acts 10. I think the Gentiles would have had
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a big struggle, and this will come up later in Acts, we won't deal with
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it today, but just their lifestyle. Romans 1:18-32
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talks about the ungodliness and the worldliness that would have been true of the Gentiles,
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the way they did marriage or didn't do marriage, worshiping all of these
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gods, and now coming under monotheism, there's one God. Paul says,
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you were led astray to these dumb idols, however you were led, 1 Corinthians
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12:2, and coming under Judaism, you pray
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to the one God through Jesus, you're indwelt through the Spirit, you can't just worship
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this pantheon of gods. If you're a Gentile, this is a challenge. Here's why I'm
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bringing all this up. It was hard for both sides. It's a challenge.
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We tend to only look at it from the Jewish lens. The Gentiles had the
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same problems. We're coming right down our street. I promise you, you'll see we
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really haven't graduated from this same thing and the challenges they faced with welcoming in
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Gentiles. We have our own Gentiles and it's a challenge and
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we need to do our best to welcome them in. Russell, go ahead.
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Yeah, yeah, I think Jews and
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Gentiles had to die to self, and this is what Paul's normally talking about when
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he's saying, hey, put other people's needs before yourself. 1 Corinthians 10:24,
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look not every man on his own things, look on the needs of others.
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Philippians 2:3-4, and it's driven by that, Russell. Like, hey, if you're going to be
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in this family with people with differences, you've got to overcome this. All right,
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here's what we're doing today. We're getting through Acts 10 and verse 12. I know
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this is VBS, you're getting ready for kids' songs, but if you get in the
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way, we will roll right over you, okay? We are going to do Acts 10
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through 12 today, I promise. Comment, go ahead. I have a saying, when you
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stress, we regress. So the temptation,
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all these things, I just— it's just they don't
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have any— they have to learn to respect for the leadership structure in which they're
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going to dress. Now they have to begin to speak to God's leaders, which is
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difficult for them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, their challenge would either be go back to
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paganism or try to blend them in. And I think Paul in 1 Corinthians is
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going to say this in chapter 6. He's going to say, hey, and in chapter
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10, you can't eat at the table of demons and of God. You can't unite
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yourself to a harlot and be God's person. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
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It's this idea that, hey, if you're stressed, maybe just go back to what's comfortable
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or just kind of synchronize it and put it together, and you can't do it.
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All right, Acts 10, here are the challenges. The first one is the challenge of
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the moral gospel. I'm going to read Acts 10:1-8. At Caesarea there was a man
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named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort,
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a devout man who feared God with all his household. He gave alms generously to
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the people, and he prayed continually to God. About the 9th hour of the
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day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and
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say to him, Cornelius, And he stared at him in terror and said, what is
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it, Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your alms have ascended as
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a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one
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Simon who is called Peter. He's lodging with one Simon, a tanner,
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whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him had departed,
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he called 2 of his servants, a devout soldier from among those who attended
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him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. So, before the
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Gentile inclusion, the first challenge is the challenge of the moral gospel.
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So, we're introduced to this man named Cornelius. Introduction to Cornelius, look at verse
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3. What do we know about him? His name's Cornelius. Why mention his
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name? Think about it. The Ethiopian eunuch isn't mentioned by name. Why mention him by
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name? It's possible after his conversion Cornelius becomes well
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known to the early church. So, we mention him by name. He's a Roman centurion.
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He's of the Italian cohort, so he has probably 100 soldiers under him.
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He's a man of rank. He has a good job. He's probably well off.
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What else do we know about him? Luke gets to his character, Acts 10:2.
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He's a devout man. What does that mean?
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He's religious. He's a pious and upright guy. Feared God with all his
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house. In the book of Acts, this terminology, especially when it's used for a
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Gentile, a God-fearer, it doesn't just mean somebody who is afraid of God. It's a
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specific title. It's in Acts 13:16 and Acts 13:26.
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A Gentile God-fearer means this person hasn't converted to Judaism.
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They haven't proselyted in, but they normally hang around the synagogue.
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They listen to Scripture and Torah. And they're very sensitive to Jewish
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faith. So sometimes Paul will be preaching and he'll say, Jews and all of you
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who fear God, all of you God-fearers. Cornelius is in that group.
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He's a God-fearing man. And then it says he gave alms generously
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to all people and he prayed continually. All right, let's just stop right here.
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Based on what you know about Cornelius, just tell me the good
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things. Like, I know what the verses say. He gave money, he prayed,
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he was pious and devout. What kind of man was Cornelius based
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on these verses?
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He was just a good man. He was a good man.
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Morally upright.
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Respected. Honest. We're getting warmer. Let's give Cornelius a
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little bit more credit. He's good, he's honest, he's respectable. What else?
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He's disciplined. Starts with re-, ends with ligious.
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What is he? He's religious. To which God, by the
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way? To the true God of the Bible, Yahweh,
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the God of the ancient Hebrew people? Great.
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And then God says, hey, I'm going to have you send for Simon Peter.
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Well, an angel tells him, your prayers have come up, in verse 4, as a
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memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one who's called Simon.
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Why did he have to send for Peter? He's a good and upright man,
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morally right. This is the moral gospel, and I'm going to show you in a
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minute, this is still our challenge today. Cornelius is a good and upright man,
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praised, gives money, does all these things. Why send
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for Peter? Miss Terry?
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He needs to be baptized. What else?
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He needs to hear the gospel. Listen, we know people like
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this. This is the moral gospel. This guy has a good job. He's well off.
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He's an upright person, good neighbor. You want him checking your mail, getting your
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Amazon packages for you when you're out of town. This is a good guy.
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He's more than just a good guy though. He's not just a moral man in
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a general sense. He's religious and he's praying to God and his
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prayers come up as a memorial. He's a good person, but he still
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has to send to Joppa so that he can hear words so that he and
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his household can be saved. And I think this is important because this
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reminds us this: the moral gospel challenges us because it reminds us everybody
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has spiritual needs. Even people that you think, well, they're good people,
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They've got money. You've said this about people before, right? Like,
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I don't really think they're interested in religion. I mean, their lives are pretty set.
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Jesus says, what would it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
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what? The moral gospel is a challenge because it says to us, hey,
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just because people are comfortable, don't ever fall into the trap of thinking they
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don't have deep spiritual needs. Oh, he'll never come to church. He's got so many
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boats and cars and he's so busy. There is a deep need
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still, even for people in that circumstance, for spirituality.
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And Cornelius reminds us of that. Also, the moral gospel
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is a challenge that must be overcome 'cause it teaches us being generally religious isn't
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enough. At this point, it's no longer just
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ancient Judaism or patriarchy. If you're going to be saved at this point in the
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book of Acts, salvation comes through who? One person,
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Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 says, there's salvation in nobody else,
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no other name under heaven by which people must be saved other than Jesus
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Christ. Being generally religious, well, they believe in God, they believe in a higher power,
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that's not good enough. Cornelius has to come to know Jesus, and as Miss Terri
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mentioned, he's got to be baptized, and we'll talk about that in a minute.
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Here's another thing it teaches us: performing religious and devotional acts
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won't save you. Well, I pray all the time. So did Cornelius. By the way,
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his prayer was heard. Well, I give money to— that's
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not enough. That's not going to save— you know, we came back from Florida yesterday.
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We were in the airport, and I don't know who these groups were, not passing
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judgment on them, just an observation. There were various groups in the airport,
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at least 3, big groups that had on t-shirts affiliated
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with some church, some religious group, and they all appeared from what I saw to
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be going to do mission work, mission trips. I think that's a great and noble
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task. Don't know what they believed, don't know what they practiced, but here's what I'm
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telling you, good spiritual devotional acts wouldn't save anybody.
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Sometimes you say, well, I know they just couldn't be lost. Look at them doing
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it. They love Jesus Christ. They're serving the Lord, doing mission work. He's praying.
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He's giving alms. He's religious. But good
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moral works and devotional religious works don't
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save anybody apart from a saved relationship with Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9,
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Paul says, for by grace we've been saved through faith. It's not our own doing.
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It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
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Just reading somebody's spiritual resume and saying, hey, I know what y'all say, and I
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know what that Bible says, but I'm telling you, Bob's going to heaven. Look at
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all the good he's done. Cornelius is a testament that's just not so. Here's another
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thing. Prayer is a spiritual blessing, but not a means of salvation.
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Sometimes people think, well, I'm praying to God, God's hearing me, so I know
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I must be good. But 1 Peter 3:12 says, the eyes
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of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers.
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And so prayer is something God grants you as a Christian.
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It's a spiritual blessing, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're saved.
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Oh, one more on this, and then we'll move on to how we engage this.
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Sometimes you talk to people and they say, well, I know I'm saved because I
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had a religious experience. I saw an angel.
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And I normally have 2 ideas when I hear that. Number one, you didn't.
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But number two, if you did though, like we try to argue people
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down, but if you did, here's the point: religious experiences don't save you. So we
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don't even have to argue with people whether they saw the Lord, saw an angel.
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Paul says in Galatians 1, even if an angel— if you saw an angel and
20:54
he preached a different gospel to you than the one in the Bible, you still
20:57
have to become a Christian. Cornelius sees an angel, an angel speaking to him,
21:00
and guess what? He still has to do what God wants him to do.
21:03
Religious experiences in and of themselves don't solidify
21:07
your salvation. So here's the question: how do we overcome this when we meet
21:10
people that are upright and moral? The moral gospel is a challenge. How do we
21:13
overcome it? We've got friends and neighbors in these situations, good people,
21:17
thoughtful, prayerful. What can we do? What should we do to engage them and overcome
21:22
this challenge? Is this still our challenge? Is this still one of the challenges we
21:25
face? Do you know people like this that by all accounts, if you just took
21:30
out the verses and gave somebody Acts 10:1-4 as an obituary for
21:34
a person, you know what most people would say about a man like that?
21:36
He's going where? He's going to heaven. This is a good person. You don't get
21:40
any better than this. And God says, hey, Cornelius, send men to Joppa. Call for
21:44
Simon Peter. He's at the house of a tanner and he'll tell you words.
21:47
So we know people like this. My question is, what do we do to engage
21:50
them and how do we overcome it? Kevin?
21:57
About God doesn't hear a sinner's prayer. Uh, 2 quick things and then
22:01
we'll get back on course unless somebody has a follow-up. John 9:31 says this about
22:04
Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man. First of all, Jesus doesn't say
22:08
John 9:31. The people come to Jesus and they say, now we know God doesn't
22:12
hear sinners. This is kind of a proverbial statement they're saying in general,
22:15
but I think what they mean is like God doesn't hear sinners in the affirmative,
22:19
like granting them what they want. But I think the Bible's pretty clear,
22:22
God does listen to people's prayers that aren't sinners, not in a saving
22:26
sense, not in the way He listens to Christians, but He heard Cornelius.
22:30
In Acts 9, before Saul becomes a Christian, He tells Ananias,
22:33
hey, go preach the gospel to this Saul of Tarsus. Behold, he's praying. How did
22:37
God know that? God hears everything, but the Bible says God hears
22:42
with a capital H with the intent to listen and to save and
22:45
to help only for Christians, Proverbs 15:29 and 1 Peter
22:49
3:12. I don't think we should make too big of a deal about that with
22:52
people, in my judgment. Like, God doesn't hear your prayers, he doesn't hear anything you
22:55
got to say. That's not really the sticking point. The sticking point is more of
22:59
you can't be saved through prayer. And what it— because if a person is a
23:02
non-Christian and they're praying, God, help me, I really want to be saved, I believe
23:06
God hears and listens to things like that and he honors it. Acts 16,
23:09
the people in Macedonia say, come over here and help us, and God sends Paul.
23:13
But that God's just hearing their wishes and whims and desires and honoring their
23:17
prayers in that sense. You've got to be in Jesus Christ for that to happen.
23:20
So that's what I would say. But John 9:31 isn't the go-to passage
23:24
to say God doesn't listen to sinners, because this is the commentary basically
23:29
of a mob telling a blind man, hey, you know, or the blind man,
23:31
excuse me, saying to these people, we know God doesn't hear sinners. And so
23:35
it's not really about a theological point that proves anything.
23:38
But anyway, yes, go ahead, Denver.
23:43
That's right. It's a great point. Yeah, he wasn't, he wasn't
23:46
just praying. Denver brings up the idea Cornelius's life matched his prayers for sure.
23:51
But the overall purpose of this in the book of Acts is it didn't save
23:54
him. So how do we apply this in our lives? How do we help people?
23:59
All right, great. I'm locked and loaded. Can't wait. All right. Acknowledge the good in
24:03
them. This is what we should do. We should acknowledge the good in other people.
24:05
I think sometimes this is a struggle for us. Like we see people that are
24:08
good that aren't religious and like, we're almost surprised. Can you believe he's reading the
24:12
Bible? Yes. Can you believe they're doing good? The Bible acknowledges Cornelius,
24:16
your prayers have come up as a memorial before God. If you want to reach
24:19
people that are in this sphere of the moral gospel, I think we ought to
24:22
acknowledge the good in them. Romans 13:7, give honor to whom honor is due.
24:25
Number 2, show them they're not far from the kingdom. Hey,
24:29
you're praying? I'm glad you're praying. Hey, you're religious? I'm glad. Hey, you go
24:33
to church? Love it. That's a great thing. I mean, you should agree with people
24:36
in religious discussion as far as you can go. I mean, ride it all the
24:40
way out. And then once you've got to part ways, then part ways. But as
24:43
far as you can go with the person and affirming the good that they're doing
24:46
without compromising biblical conviction, you should do that. The Holy
24:50
Spirit is modeling this by showing us this about Cornelius. Look at all of this
24:54
good, then send men to Joppa. We should show them they're not far from the
24:57
kingdom. Push for an encounter with the Word. Don't talk about their experiences
25:01
and yours and your church and their church and what we think and what they
25:05
do. You've got to hear the gospel, as was already mentioned.
25:08
Next, ask them their motivation for their goodness and let God define
25:12
true goodness. Whenever somebody says, I'm a good person, you should say,
25:15
well, what does that mean? And why are you a good person? And who gets
25:19
to define what's good? That's what Jesus told the rich young ruler in Luke 18.
25:22
He says, why do you call me good? And then keep Christianity and salvation
25:27
distinct, meaning people can do good works, but good works
25:31
don't save you. That only comes when you obey the gospel. So Acts 10:1-8,
25:35
the first challenge is the challenge of the moral gospel, and you overcome
25:38
it by introducing people to the truth. All right, now Acts 10:9-48,
25:43
and we won't be able to read all of this, but we got 3 chapters
25:46
and I intend to keep my word, so put on your running shoes. All right,
25:49
welcoming in the Gentiles. So here's the next challenge.
25:52
Peter is the perfect person to do this. We're going to send Peter to preach
25:55
to Cornelius. Why is Peter the right man to do this? Because Jesus
25:59
told him, I'm giving you, Peter, the keys of the kingdom, and whatever you bind
26:03
on earth will be bound in heaven. It was said to all of the apostles
26:05
in Matthew 18, but especially to Peter. On the day of Pentecost, who preached
26:10
the first sermon? And what did Peter say you had to do to be saved?
26:12
Repent and— but in verse 39, he said, hey, this promise
26:17
is for you and your children and everybody afar off, talking about Gentiles.
26:20
Peter already knew this. Gentiles are in. He knew it in his mind,
26:25
but maybe not in his practice. He's the perfect person to be
26:28
the one to preach the gospel to the Gentiles for the first time. And so
26:31
God appears to him. Acts 10:9-16, Peter's up on
26:35
his roof and he's praying, and God tells Peter
26:39
after he shows him this vision— there's this vision of this sheet coming down,
26:42
there are various animals— what does he tell Peter to do? Rise, kill, and what?
26:47
Eat. Peter says what? Nobody told God no
26:51
in the Bible more than Peter. You ever notice that? God's like, hey Peter,
26:54
you're going to deny me. Nope. I'm going to be crucified and die. No,
26:57
you're not, Lord. Peter, rise, kill, and eat. What's Peter's problem here?
27:01
Well, number one, what? He thinks he knows the book of Leviticus better than God,
27:05
right? He's like, not tricking me. I'm not falling for that. But number two,
27:08
he won't soften his heart and open up to what God wants him to do.
27:11
This vision happened several times. It says in verse 16, 3 times,
27:15
and then it was taken back up to heaven. It's interesting that
27:18
both Cornelius and Peter needed a divine vision or revelation
27:22
for them to get on board with what God's doing. Both of them, both of
27:26
them needed divine aid to see, hey, this is going to be okay. This is
27:29
the right thing to do. The men come from Cornelius's house. Men he sent to
27:33
Peter, and they tell him, hey, we're here for a man named Simon. Peter has
27:36
come down from the rooftop and he's going to go with these men, and they
27:39
go to Cornelius's house. Look at Acts 10 and look at verse 24. Peter finally
27:43
gets to Cornelius's household. Acts 10:24 says Cornelius
27:47
is there gathered with all of his friends and his loved ones.
27:50
When Peter walks into the house, Acts 10:25, what does
27:54
Cornelius do? Fall down at his— falls down at his feet to worship
27:58
him. In verse 26, Peter says, stand up, I'm a man just like you're a
28:01
man. And then they start having this conversation. Cornelius tells him,
28:05
hey, I was told to send for you. I saw a vision yesterday
28:08
about this same time, and I was told to send for you. And we're
28:12
all gathered here to hear what God has to say to you. And Peter starts
28:16
preaching the gospel to him. He starts telling him about Jesus. Acts 10:38,
28:20
Jesus went about doing good, healing all that were demon-possessed,
28:23
for God was with him. And he talks about all the great things Jesus did.
28:26
About the time he starts to get to the resurrection, the Holy Spirit
28:30
falls on these individuals. Look at Acts 10. I'm going to read 44 down through
28:33
48. While Peter was still saying these things,
28:37
the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the unbelievers from
28:40
among the circumcised who had come with Peter, they were amazed
28:43
because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles,
28:47
for they were hearing them speak in tongues and extolling God. And then Peter declared,
28:52
Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received
28:55
the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in
28:59
the name of Jesus Christ. And then they asked him to remain for some,
29:02
some days. So they have what I'll just call here as a Gentile
29:06
Pentecost, their own Gentile Pentecost. The Holy Spirit falls on
29:10
them. The Holy Spirit falling on these people in Acts 10 was not to save
29:14
them. It was for Peter and the 6 guys that came with him to see
29:17
You can do this. You can welcome the Gentiles in. God's with them. How do
29:21
you know it? Holy Spirit falls on these individuals and they're able
29:26
to speak in tongues. And then Peter commands them, as Ms. Terry mentioned 15 minutes
29:30
ago, to be what? To be baptized.
29:33
The challenge for these Christians was to welcome in the Gentiles.
29:37
All right, who are our Gentiles? Like, how does this scenario parallel ours?
29:41
And I'm gonna take one easy one off the table. So let's just take race
29:44
off the table. That's obviously one. People can be different from us racially. Let's take
29:47
that one off the table. Aside from that though, or in addition to that,
29:50
I'll say, what are some scenarios when we're, where we're in a similar situation
29:55
to Peter here with people that are different from us
29:59
that might be challenging for us to reach out to? So for Peter and
30:03
Cornelius, this is different, right? Cornelius sees him, falls down, thinks maybe he's an angel
30:07
or some divine spokesman worthy of worship. But Peter tells him,
30:10
when you read Acts 10:27-29, You know it's not lawful for
30:14
a Jew to come in and be with somebody like you who's a Gentile.
30:17
What circumstances do we have in 2026 that might parallel these?
30:23
Okay, great point, great point, Miss Brenda. The way they've been raised religiously,
30:28
traditionally. If somebody's different from us in beliefs and doctrine,
30:31
they may not know the Bible in the way that we do, or they may
30:35
have a different approach or way of interpreting things than we do, and that might
30:38
be a challenge. Anybody else? Kim,
30:42
for sure they're not believers, but I'm talking more so— I'm— yes, they're not believers,
30:45
but I'm talking about people who they're back, they become Christians, they're baptized,
30:49
and then we've got to welcome them in. Or yeah, if they come from an
30:52
unbelieving background, so that fits this context too. Unbelievers,
30:55
people from a different church background. What else? Or who else, I should say?
31:00
Worldly. Worldly people. You know anybody rough around the edges?
31:05
Yeah, that might be a challenge for people. Not polished.
31:09
Right? Doesn't— they don't speak the same. They're different.
31:11
Worldliness. They come in, they're baptized. Guess what's still going to
31:15
be with them a little bit? Some of that worldliness. And I think some of
31:18
that makes it a little bit challenging sometimes. What else?
31:24
Cultural backgrounds. Just all sorts of things. Food,
31:27
traditions, those sorts of things. What about education? Some people
31:31
too much, some people not enough. There's all kinds of financial.
31:35
I'm just telling you, we've got the same challenges. How do we
31:38
overcome them? Well, let me just go through this quickly.
31:41
Start on this side with principles from this passage. First thing, listen to God first.
31:46
God told Peter to go, and guess what Peter did? He went. God tells us
31:50
to go, don't think about the differences right off, just do what God says.
31:54
Number 2, remember everybody is an image bearer.
31:57
If you just focus on that one fact, I know people might undermine
32:01
that and think, yeah, that's kind of shallow, that's Christianese, but it's the facts.
32:05
At the end of the day, everybody's an image bearer of God. And if you
32:08
focus on that, it won't matter their race. It won't matter how educated or uneducated
32:12
they are. It won't matter if they say ain't and things like that. That stuff
32:15
won't bother you. You just will realize, hey, this is an image bearer. This is
32:18
somebody that needs the gospel. Kill partiality and call it out. When you
32:22
see it, favoritism, or if it's in you, just get rid of it.
32:27
On that first column, the last one, refuse to treat them as second-class citizens.
32:30
Here's what I mean with that. People that come in from a different background,
32:33
when they come in, their knee-jerk reaction might be,
32:36
to elevate us. And we always have 2 options when this happens. We can kind
32:40
of soak this in. It feels good to be praised and worshiped a little bit,
32:43
or we can tell them, hey, get on your feet. You're just like me.
32:45
Well, I know you're an expert. You've been here. Your grandma went to this church.
32:47
Oh no, we don't do that here. This isn't my grandma's church. Get on your
32:51
feet. You're just like me. Refuse to treat them as second-class citizens and don't
32:54
let them stay in that mindset even if they would like to,
32:57
even if it's comfortable for them to maintain that posture. Peter says, hey,
33:01
get up on your feet. I'm a man just like you. Next, get to know
33:04
each other. I think it's interesting Peter doesn't come in and just automatically start
33:08
preaching. Look at what he does. I'm in Acts chapter 10, and notice in verse
33:12
number 26, Peter lifted him up saying, stand on your feet, I'm a man.
33:16
And he talked with him and he went in and found many persons gathering.
33:19
And then he tells him, you're a Jew. And then look at verse 30,
33:21
Cornelius says, 4 days ago about this hour I was praying. You know what they
33:25
do from verse— really verse 23 down through verse 33? They're just
33:29
getting to know each other. Hey, what you doing here? Well, God sent me.
33:31
And what are you doing here? Well, I had a vision. When you start knowing
33:34
people's story, a lot of superficial things fall off. Peter doesn't come
33:38
in and just start preaching the gospel. He says, well, let me tell you about
33:41
what happened with me. And then Cornelius says, well, let me tell you what happened
33:45
with me. And guess what they find out? Both of their stories are what?
33:48
You start talking to people, what you're going to find out is both of your
33:51
stories similar. You got hurt in your family.
33:55
They've got it. You make mistakes. They've made them. You hadn't
33:58
done everything right. You just start learning people's stories and these barriers that the world
34:03
has just kind of concocted, these false constructs, they just fall down.
34:07
Use the gospel as a neutralizer. I think this is important. This isn't pandering.
34:11
I think this is important because in Acts 10, it's not just like, hey,
34:15
the church, we need some inclusion. We need some national
34:19
diversity. Let's bring in the Gentiles. No, you've got to neutralize with the gospel.
34:22
You're not just trying to be diverse for diverse sake.
34:25
People that become Christians are welcomed into the kingdom. This isn't like
34:29
we're trying to diversify our numbers and meet some quota. We want
34:33
to teach people that you've got to use the gospel. See, Peter does eventually get
34:36
down to preaching and say, okay, Acts 10:34-35, God is no respecter
34:40
of persons, but in every nation, people that do what he says and works righteousness,
34:44
they're accepted with him. This is what Denver mentioned a moment ago about Cornelius's behavior.
34:48
Eventually, get to the gospel with people and use that as the neutralizer Know the
34:52
gospel well. Don't require more than God. What does Peter say
34:56
in Acts 10:47-48? They need to be what?
35:00
They need to be baptized. What did he tell the Jews on the day of
35:03
Pentecost? Don't require any more than God. And then strengthen
35:08
bonds in Christ ASAP. I love the end of Acts 10:48.
35:12
He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then
35:16
what's the last part say? I think it's funny. At first,
35:19
Peter had to be forced to go, and eventually he ends up staying for a
35:22
couple days. Why not baptize him and leave? Because when you meet people from different
35:26
backgrounds and you come into the kingdom, it's important that ASAP
35:30
you start building bonds. Stay longer than you should. Get to know more. Let them
35:33
know, hey, this wasn't just business between you and me. It wasn't just, well,
35:35
I came, God made me. They build bonds ASAP,
35:39
and we'll overcome the challenges of different backgrounds and cultures and all of that when
35:43
we do the same thing. All right, Acts chapter 11. And this
35:46
is kind of a replaying of this, the challenge of building bridges
35:50
and not walls. And I almost skipped Acts 11 because a lot
35:54
of Acts 11 is very similar to Acts 10, but it's a little bit different.
35:57
So Peter went and preached in Acts chapter 10 because God told him.
36:01
He pleased God but not God's people. Acts 11 and verse 1,
36:05
it says, now the apostles and brothers who were throughout Judea, they heard
36:09
that the Gentiles had received the word of God. Guess how the Jews felt about
36:12
the Gentiles being welcomed in? They didn't
36:15
like it. And so they want to know what's Peter doing going to talk to
36:19
Gentile people. Acts 11:2-3, it says, so when Peter went up
36:22
into Jerusalem, the circumcision party, they criticized him saying,
36:26
you went to uncircumcised men and you ate with them. And then Peter
36:30
has to explain to them what he did. Why would the Jews have a problem
36:33
with Peter going to preach to Gentiles? As far as they're concerned, what?
36:37
We don't what? We don't do stuff like that.
36:41
We don't do stuff like that. And Peter has a unique opportunity. And so
36:45
he just preaches to them. He says, hey, this is what happened. This is what
36:48
I saw. They got the Holy Spirit just like we did in the beginning.
36:51
John the Baptist told us Gentiles are going to be in, and this is
36:55
exactly what God wanted. Verse 18 of Acts 11 says, when they heard
36:58
this, they fell silent. I don't think you should discount
37:02
what Peter did here because Peter could have just gone with the flow. Think of
37:05
all the ways Peter could have did this differently. And by the way, Later on
37:09
in his life, Peter is going to goof this part up in Galatians 2 and
37:12
not go with the Gentiles like he should. But right here, he does a courageous
37:16
thing because Peter could have said, nah, I don't know what you're talking about.
37:19
I didn't do that. Or he could have said, well, yeah, God made
37:23
me do it and God wanted me to, but nah, I don't like those people.
37:25
You know, I'm just like y'all. We don't, we don't deal with them. Peter builds
37:29
a bridge and not a wall by standing up and saying what he did in
37:32
private in public. And we can overcome this challenge too in our lives. And I'll
37:36
talk practically about some ways in a minute, but be one way all the time.
37:41
Be one way all the time. I think some people, they get in certain groups
37:44
and they're like, hey, this is fine, I'm good with this congregation or with these
37:47
people. And let somebody else start talking about them and they're just kind of like,
37:50
oh yeah, we don't deal with them either. Or friendships or fellowship opportunities,
37:54
and it's just like, oh, you went over there with them? Yeah, I did,
37:56
but I went out of pity. See, Peter doesn't do that. Peter just says,
37:59
hey, I went, this is what happened, and he stays true. Stand on
38:03
the Word and not what's popular. Peter has 6 people with him and
38:07
him and the whole church in Jerusalem, and he sticks with God.
38:10
Denver, go ahead.
38:14
Yeah, that's exactly right.
38:18
He had witnesses. They draw on common ground together.
38:22
He says, hey, what happened to them happened to us, and then refused
38:26
to stand in God's way. He says, I couldn't prevent what God was going to
38:29
accomplish through them. I had to go with it. All right, here's the last
38:33
challenge from Acts chapter 11, and then we'll hit the highlights of 12.
38:36
The challenge of stabilizing the local church. So look at Acts 11:19-30.
38:41
After this all settles down, the church continues to grow. It started
38:45
in Acts 8, and it picks up in Acts 11 and verse 19. The gospel
38:49
goes to Antioch of Syria. The church there is growing, and they've got to do
38:53
something about it. And so they decide to send Barnabas. As the church grows,
38:56
The apostles get together, they send Barnabas. The Bible— Luke calls him a man
39:00
full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. Let's send Barnabas and see how
39:04
this church is doing and the great work they're doing. He gets Saul of Tarsus
39:07
to go with him to this congregation that's in Antioch that basically
39:11
becomes the primary church in the New Testament that sends out missionaries
39:15
and does the Lord's work. And as a result, Barnabas brings Saul,
39:19
the church grows. Look at Acts 11:26. The disciples are first
39:23
called what? In Antioch. This is
39:27
the challenge of stabilizing the local church. And maybe we don't think
39:31
about this. Okay, the church in Antioch, they're growing, they're booming. What's challenging about this?
39:34
Here are some of the things. There's a man that directed the Florida School
39:38
of Preaching right before I went. His name was Jackie Steersman. He called Acts 11:19-30
39:42
the Jerusalem model. And this is a quote he always used about
39:46
church work and about evangelism, and I want to share it with you. I think
39:49
it's important. He says, you cannot evangelize the world more rapidly than
39:53
you can establish and stabilize local congregations.
39:57
You can't even— you can try to go out. We're going— we just want to
39:59
evangelize. We want to go throughout all the world. We just— Jackie said,
40:02
you can't evangelize the world any faster than you
40:06
can establish and stabilize local congregations. This is important because sometimes
40:10
we undermine local work. Hey, let's just go here. Let's just go there. Let's take
40:13
the gospel. But if you don't stabilize local congregations, you haven't done anything. In fact,
40:17
you might've created a bigger mess. And so what happens in Antioch is important
40:22
because it says, hey, let's settle down and let's make sure the church here is
40:25
strong. And I think it's a challenge because you've got to balance talents
40:29
and gifts. Barnabas goes and gets who? What if
40:33
Barnabas is thinking, hey, Saul's more educated than me. He's better than me. They love
40:37
me in Antioch, but when Saul comes— see, Barnabas isn't thinking like
40:41
that, but in the local church, it's a challenge because other people can do what
40:44
you can do, and sometimes other people can do it better. But Barnabas
40:47
didn't care about that. He just wanted to get the work done. Sometimes there's the
40:51
glamour of global evangelism. No, the real spiritual
40:54
rock stars are the people traveling, going all over, but there's something to be said
40:58
for people that stay at home. I know I just got back from out of
41:00
town. Don't look at me like that, but I'm telling you, there's something to be
41:03
said for people that stay at home and do the local work. This is important
41:07
because Paul's going to go throughout the entirety of the Roman Empire,
41:10
but what about the people that just stay home and do local stuff?
41:14
I got a lot of friends in preaching and nothing— like everybody starts getting into
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the, hey, let's just start our own little ministry. We don't really want to do
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local work. What if we just start our own little— and all of that can
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be good and glorify God, but there's a challenge to say, can you stay
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put? Luke says they stayed here for a whole year. And the
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glamour of global evangelism sometimes makes that a challenge.
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Being called Christians, they're called Christians. This is a name given to
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them for the great work that they do. They engage in disaster relief work.
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The only way you're going to get tied up in that is if you're local,
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if you stay put in a local place and do local work. Agabus talks
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about a famine that's coming, and guess who sees to the needs of that?
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The local members that are there, not traveling missionaries, the local members that are
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there. And then they had to encourage the saved to stay saved. There is something
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great about standing in the baptistry, taking somebody's confession and immersing them and seeing them
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come out, doing that first embrace. But more of the work
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in a person's Christian life is going to be on the other end and helping
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them stay saved. And the challenge of stabilizing the local church, because remember,
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you can't evangelize the world more rapidly than you can establish and
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stabilize local congregations. Support all of the missionaries in the world. If you don't
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establish and then stabilize, get elders and deacons and strengthen local
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congregations, we'll never do what Jesus wanted us to do. All right.
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And then entrusting others to do the work. And this is what Paul does with
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Barnabas. All right, so that's Acts 10 and 11. I said we'd get through
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12, and we will, because I preached on Acts 12 recently. I purposely didn't intend
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to get into it in detail, and you might be thinking, when? It was a
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Sunday night. It's on YouTube. And if you weren't here, well, that's what
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you get for missing evening worship. No, I'm joking, but it was— it's on YouTube.
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But here's some of the challenges the church faced. Losing another leader.
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James dies in Acts 12. The church has to keep going. And maybe
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you can think about this for another class. Why did God save Peter and not
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James? Sometimes it happens that way. People die that we
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don't expect, and sometimes other people get to live on. The doubt of deliverance.
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So as persecution continues to mount, you start doubting
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God's goodness. Peter gets out of prison, and it takes a while before Peter to
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realize, oh, God really did send an angel and deliver me. There's the
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doubt of answered prayer. They don't believe that Peter's actually at the gate,
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even though Rhoda's saying it is him. Persecution starts wearing the church down
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a little bit, and as God's rescuing and delivering, they think it's too good to
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be true. There's the courage to keep going as Peter goes elsewhere preaching the gospel.
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And then they overcome political leaders as Herod dies and he's
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eaten by worms. Acts 10, 11, and 12, we welcome in
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the Gentiles, we stabilize local churches, but here's the last thing. I know the second
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bell rung. What Luke's showing us up to this point is literally
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nothing and no one can stop the gospel. Rulers die,
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church leaders die, people are thrown in prison. You mix in different people
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groups. The Jews have questions about it. And the way Luke ends Acts 12
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is, but the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed, because the gospel
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will do its work. It's up to us to cooperate with it. All right,
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thanks for a good Bible class. Appreciate it.