Peter & Cornelius

Turn with me to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, we're going to again attempt the impossible but we did it first service so we'll take all of chapter 10 this morning and we can do that, we can make it. Acts chapter 10, again Acts is a narrative. That means that Luke is telling us a story, he's telling us about how the church came into being and he's narrating a series of events that God's laid on his heart through these first few chapters are just mainly through Peter and some of the others that have told him about what happened and then Luke picks up with us in a few more chapters and writes his own personal account of experiencing it but it's more always than just a story, it's more than just a recounting of events.

God wants us to ponder at these different places and ask him what he wants us to see more than just the story of certain occurrences and that's true here in chapter 10 as we see two individuals interacting. Now one of them we know already, it's the apostle Peter and the other one is a man named Cornelius who's a centurion and these two lives are contrasted for us in our division that we've broken down in our Bibles that's called chapter 10. Again when Luke wrote this, he just wrote it, he didn't put chapters or verses in it, he just wrote it as God's Spirit gave him understanding but what we have as chapter 10 is this contrast between Peter and Cornelius and contrasts are always interesting and whenever

you see contrasts in the Word, whenever a couple of individuals are mentioned in the Word like we saw in Acts chapter 8 and all, take time to look at those contrasts because God wants to speak to our hearts concerning them. Now chapter 10, in chapter 10 we have a couple of visions, both Peter and Cornelius have a vision and the commentators go wild with this and they talk about chapter 10 being the chapter of vision and they go back to Proverbs 29, 18, and without a vision the people perish and some even encourage that all Christians ought to be having this type of literal vision and it can be very condemning if you happen to be one of the Christians that doesn't regularly have visions of God and, you know, white apparition appearances

of angels or sheets being let down out of heaven. Now some do and that's exciting, that's encouraging, that's part of those gifted by God in the body of Christ. Joel said that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and old men would dream dreams and young men would see visions, I'm dreaming now, I'd rather see visions God, you know. But maybe, you know, some in the fellowship of God does open up visions too, but that's not the norm, that's not necessarily the norm and it's not necessarily, you know, although we're going to look at these two visions, I don't think the encouragement is that we should be having visions, I think God is showing us something through these

visions and I'd like to put forth that He is wanting us to have His vision, He's wanting us to have His eyesight, He's wanting us to see things through His eyes and particularly He wants us to see people through His eyes. There's a song that says God loves people more than anything and I love that song because it means God loves me and as bad as we can get, as scumbaggy as it seems like we can go through certain times, at times God loves us, God loves you and He loves you more than anything and He sent His Son to die for you because He loves you that much and it's coming to know Jesus, it's coming to know that, to experience that love that God has for us. Now, if you've come to that point, you are really blessed, there may be some here

who haven't and you're just kind of going through the church thing today and you've never experienced that love of God, may you do so this morning, may God open your heart to receive His awesome love that He has for you this morning. But not only that, there are those around us that you have to remember that God loves more than anything and some of those are the scumbags you hang around with, some of those are your family members that are just a thorn in the flesh or some are your co-workers that you describe as plant food, you know, they're just not real people, they have to be aliens, you know, they're just so weird or so gross or so base or you just detest them. Maybe it's somebody you're in school with, maybe it's a neighbor that you've battled

with for years and you just, at times have a, you know, you just feel like God, you know, snuff them, it'd just be better if you snuff them. Maybe it's somebody from a different culture or somebody of a different race and you think you are, you know, you've grown past that but you find yourself in a circumstance where you're around people of another culture or of another race and you find yourself looking down on them or thinking thoughts that they

in your presence and they're in a rotten state, do they experience God's love for them through you or are you standoffish and condemning? See, that's the vision I think we're being expected to see here in chapter 10 with the visions that God gives Peter and Cornelius because both of them are visions that lead them to love other people, that lead them to accept other people in both cases. And these are men of two diverse backgrounds. I mean, both of them are at extremes. They come from two different cultures. Cornelius

comes from Rome. He has a Roman background through and through. There would tend to be a bit of arrogance in his background because of his family line, because of his position. Peter is from Israel and he's from a Jewish culture, from a Hebrew culture, and their cultures would conflict. They'd have two opposing worldviews. They view the world differently. The world empire is under the control of Caesar and Cornelius is a servant of Caesar. He's

in the army of Caesar. And his worldview is founded on that view of Roman dominance right now, while Peter is from Israel and has a worldview of the fact that God is in control, that Messiah has come and has brought hope to the world. Two opposing worldviews, two opposing cultures, two opposing positions in life. Again, Cornelius in the rankings of the army. He's a centurion and there's lots of centurions because centurions are

just commanders over a hundred men. And then there are legionnaires who are commanders over a legion, anywhere from 600 to a thousand men, and then commanders over those. And so he's still a commander though, and still ranking. And here again, Peter's a fisherman by trade. And low in his, even his own culture, fishermen were low on the pecking order. And so they're both opposites as far as individuals are concerned, and yet they both

love the Lord. And God really meets them there and brings them together as they have that love for the Lord. Now, you love the Lord, most of you here, and where God has placed you are people that don't, that don't know the Lord. They know about him. They may be Christians by trade. In other words, they go to church, but they don't know the Lord. They've never come into relationship with Jesus Christ. And God is there to show them

that through you and I. And so let's look at chapter 10 as we, as we go through this section. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian regiment. And he and all of his family were devout and God-fearing, and he gave generously to those in need, and he prayed to God regularly. Now, a couple of things about this individual. His name is Cornelius, which was a common name for Roman boys at

that time. Nothing really unusual about his name that we could use to contrast with Peter the Rock, I guess. He's from what was known, it says, as the Italian regiment. We don't know a whole lot about it other than it was probably very possibly stationed in Rome, very possibly initially part of the guard of Caesar's personal guard. And so he could have been in a place of prominence at one point in his career as a, as a soldier. And

now he's off in the areas of Israel, off in the areas of Palestine, a world away. Very demoralizing. When you're overseas in the service, it can get very grim. It can get very demoralizing. You can, you can, you know, you can lose sight of home and the blessings of what you're doing. And you're just, you're just anxious to get home because you, you kind of wonder what you're doing over here. And so it can be a very, especially if he,

if he were in a very efficient, very wonderful regiment that was, that was in Rome, and now he's off in the outermost parts of the, of the earth, that could be a demoralizing characteristic. But we find that instead of being demoralized, he and all of his family were devout and God-fearing, and that he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. Now, there was someone else that we saw a couple of chapters back that was referred to as God-fearing, and that was the eunuch that Philip encountered. And because he was a eunuch, he could not go into the areas of the temple and worship, along with the other believers. He was,

he was relegated to the, to the outskirts, to the periphery of his worship. And so he was labeled as a God-fearer, you remember? And, and so Cornelius is too. He's evidently weighed out the, the worship of, of his own culture, the, the pagan Roman empire with all of its mythology and, and its, its gods from Greece that it had embraced against this culture that he'd come to that, that spoke of Yahweh and of hope in Yahweh and a coming Messiah.

And he had embraced that. He was a God-fearer. And he prayed and he gave gifts. He understood love. He understood what God's love was about. And so he gave gifts. He ministered to others. He was, he was a ministering individual and gave to those in need. And he prayed to God regularly. Now, one day at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision and he distinctly

saw an angel of God who came to him and said, Cornelius. And Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it Lord? He asked. And the angel answered your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now God had given the Jews methods in which to bring offerings unto him. And there were different offerings. There were, there was the sin offering. There was the offering of atonement. There were,

there were grain offerings and wave offerings and memorial offerings unto the Lord that the Jews would come and offer as either animal or grain type sacrifices that would be mixed up and then laid on the altar, fire and burn. And the aroma going up was symbolic of that offering being lifted up to the Lord. That's what the altar of incense was inside the tabernacle and the temple. It was an altar that stood before the curtain that separated the holy place from the most holy place where the Ark of the covenant was. It was an altar of incense. And that was,

that was kept burning all the time with incense on it that represented the aroma of the prayers of the people going up to God. And so that was all symbolic. And God is saying Cornelius, God has seen your, your offerings of prayer in your deeds, your righteous deeds. They've come up as a memorial offering before God. Now that's exciting to me because Cornelius isn't saved

and yet God sees him and he's seeking God. He's not saved yet, but he's, he's doing what he can with what he knows. And God sees him. I don't know if you've thought about it much, but God sees and hears the prayers of unbelievers. Ooh, what a thought, huh? If he didn't, he wouldn't be God. David says, if I consider iniquity of my heart, the Lord doesn't hear me. The Lord doesn't receive me. Now it doesn't mean God doesn't hear. It doesn't mean

David starts to pray and God starts singing or something and saying, I'm not listening to you, David, I'm not hearing you. God still hears. It just means he's not going to respond when a, when a believer's considering iniquity, when, when there's sin in our lives and we're not doing anything about it. And we know it's there. We've got this thing that we're doing or this habit or

this thought pattern or this, whatever. And we know it's there and I shouldn't really be doing it, but I'm still going to do it. And I'm presuming upon God's grace. And we pray our prayers aren't going to seem to be immediately answered because God says I don't consider them because there's sin that's blocking that until the sins dealt with. That's the most important

thing that needs to be dealt with because it's hindering our fellowship together. Doesn't mean God doesn't hear it. And so God hears the prayers of unbelievers, but they don't, they're not in that relationship with him. So there can't be that communion with him. I know I was a church person before I got saved for, I was raised in a church, but I wasn't saved. And I prayed, but I wasn't

saved. And I didn't hear the Lord, but I remember praying to know him. And I went through when I, in the church that I was raised in, we went through confirmation class and, and we, you had to study different things and memorize the apostle's creed and the Gloria Patri and the 23rd Psalm. And you got a Bible when you were confirmed. And I remember, and, and then in the

seventh grade, we had to go and sit through the sermon and take notes. That's a trip when you're not saved, but I'd write certain things down and I'd want to understand and I'd ask God to understand, but I wouldn't even say what a blessing to know that God heard those prayers. And he knew the biggest thing I needed was to get saved, was to be brought into a relationship with his son. And so everything that was happening in my life, he was bringing me to that point.

And that's exactly what's happening with Cornelius. So what a hope, you know, what a hope somehow we have God divided, like God's here and, and his church is here and he loves his church and God hates the bad people out there. That couldn't be any further from the truth. God loves people, period. He don't want anybody to perish. And so Cornelius has been praying and God says,

Hey, your prayers have come up as a memorial offering before God, send men to Joppa and bring back a man named Simon, who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon, the Tanner whose house is by the sea. Now think about this for a minute before we go on. And again, this is a narrative, but you got to think through what he's saying. He's saying your prayers are heard. Where is, where is

Cornelius? What town is he in? Fill in the blanks. Come on now. Caesarea. Okay. He's in Caesarea, which is a coastal city on the Mediterranean side. It's up towards the Northern end of Israel. It's on the coast and Joppa is South of Israel, a day's journey we'll see. Now from our previous studies in Acts chapter eight, who do we know is in Caesarea? Philip, remember? Left and went down

to the road that goes between Jerusalem and Gaza, met to Enoch, led him to Christ, baptized him, spirit caught him away, found himself in the Zotus, worked himself up the coast to Caesarea where he stayed. Question, Philip's in Caesarea. Why is God having Cornelius send to Joppa or Joppa for Peter? Why not? I mean, isn't Philip, he's a, he's a Hellenistic Jew. He's already worked with

God-fearers. I mean, he led a God-fearer to the Lord. I mean, he's experienced in God-fearers. Wouldn't you think God had used Philip since Philip's already experienced in God-fearers? I mean, he's in the same town. How, what, just go across town to get Philip. See, that's the way we think. We plan. The Bible says a man plans, but God directs his steps. God's the one that

brings to conclusion the things that, that are. And oh, if we'd only understand that, it would work out so well, Lord. Why didn't you use Philip? Because God had other plans. We talked about this before in an earlier chat. Remember, remember, I didn't think it would go this way. I didn't think this was the way it was going to work out. And God not only has perfect

timing, follow me, but God has the perfect people at the right place at the right time. And it's usually who you wouldn't think. And why is that? Because you're one of them. Oh, but I'm not the, I don't know anything. Neither did Peter, but God was working a plan and God was going to bring Peter into Cornelius' life. And they were going to be used of the Lord

to really minister to each other because both of them needed to have God's eyes. Both of them needed to see people through God's eyes. And God knew that, and God was going to use Peter. So he had Cornelius send men to Joppa and bring back a man called Peter, who is staying with Simon the Tanner, who is at the house by the sea. Now, see, this is mentioned here several times.

It's mentioned in verse 43 of chapter 9. If you look back in chapter 9, Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a Tanner named Simon. And now he has to go to this, Cornelius has to go and get Peter, who's staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is... Why is that so significant? What does a Tanner deal with? Dead things, dead animals, mounts them, right? Skins them,

treats the hides and skins... What's a Jew not supposed to touch? Dead things. God's working on Peter already. He's got him in this house where it's really unclean for him to be there. I mean, he's really defiled because he's there. And yet God has him there because God's breaking down some barriers, some areas where Peter would alienate other people because of different

reasons instead of seeing them as people that God wants to save, people that God wants to move in their lives. And so he's staying with this guy named Simon, who is a Tanner with a house by the sea. And when the angel who spoke to him was gone, Cornelius, verse 7, called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants, and he told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Now, again, you could read over that, but just something I want you to consider.

Cornelius was evidently verbal with his faith, with his men, because he called a couple of his servants and a soldier in and sent them, and it says that he told them everything that had happened. So this is one of his devout soldiers. This is one of the soldiers that's closest to him who evidently knows Cornelius' background and love for the Lord. Otherwise, you know, you can see this soldier, full Roman soldier, military guy, schooled in fighting and coming in with the armor on and, you know, he slaps his chest and, yeah, what do you want me to do? You know, who do you

want me to kill? Well, I had this vision and an angel appeared, you know, and wants you to go to Joppa and get this guy, Simon the Tanner. Now, the guy's going to be obedient, but unless he understands where his master's coming from, he could think he flipped his trolley. But it kind of indicates that Cornelius was open. He didn't hide his faith. He was open with his faith,

even with his men. And let me encourage you, especially in these last days, not to hide your faith. Be open with it. Be open with the fact of your love for Jesus, because it's very imperative that we do that, especially in these last days, especially with the time being short. Let people know where you stand. About noon the following day, they were on their journey and

approaching the city, and Peter went up on the roof to pray, and he became hungry and wanted something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance, and he saw heaven open and something like a large sheep being let down to earth by its four corners. And it contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. And then a voice told him, get up, Peter, kill and eat. Now, Peter's having a vision about noon

the next day, and it's almost about the time when these guys coming from Cornelius's house are going to get there. So God's speaking to his heart, preparing his heart, and he's hungry. So he goes upon the house to pray, and God speaks to him at his point of need. That's how God speaks to us. Sometimes we put too much mysticism on the things of the Lord. God's a very simple,

very practical God. He speaks to us at the point of need. Peter's hungry. God says, okay, got your attention. I'll speak to you concerning what I want you to see using that very hunger that you have. And so all of a sudden it says heaven opens, and in NIV it says, and a large sheep dropped down, it tied off on the four corners. And you can have this picture as something

really mystical and mysterious, and this big tablecloth dropping down with all this food on it. Wrong picture. First of all, Joppa is also right by the sea, and we've been to the location where they said Peter's house, Simon the Tanner's house would have been in this general vicinity. And when you're standing there, there's just a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean. And so

you think about being on top of the house, the house's roofs were flat, and just kind of sitting there, and Peter would have been looking out over the Mediterranean, and he'd have seen boats, lots of boats with sails. And he'd have been thinking about what? Fishing. He'd been bringing back those memories of what he did before, and after he met the Lord, and then he went back again, and Jesus rebuked him, and he's still sitting there looking at fishing. And God unrolls a sail,

same word that means large sheet in the Greek means sail, literally a sail. God unrolled a sail for him, and he sees all of this food. God's speaking. Do you think Peter was having doubts? It's very possible. And God spoke to him at a point of need, and he sees all this food in there. Now it's unclean food, according to Jewish law, their kosher law. It's food that's unclean.

And God speaks to Peter's heart and says, get up, Peter, kill it and eat it. Go ahead and take it. Go ahead and take the sustenance that I'm giving to you. And Peter says, verse 14, surely not, Lord. And the commentaries go wild with this one, because if Jesus is indeed Lord, one of the things that you don't say is no, Lord. If he's the master and he's telling me what to do,

I say yes, Lord. But I can say surely, Lord, and I can say Lord, but I can't say no, Lord, if he's my Lord. If he's my Lord, I say yes, Lord, when he tells me something that he wants me to do. But Peter says, surely not, Lord, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. I'm self-righteous. I'm okay. And the voice spoke to him a second time, do not call anything impure that God has

made clean. Now, when did God make it clean? At the cross. And it's obvious God's not talking about food. And Peter understands that in a minute when Cornelius' men come, but God's speaking to him at a point of need. Maybe you have been there and you're going through some real pressured times, and you finally get a chance to be alone and away from all of the noise.

And let me really encourage you, especially young people, because I know the culture that we're in, and young people, man, you need noise all the time. And if you get alone in your room, on comes the noise. But if you can just take some time to get alone with no noise for just a few minutes, you think it's going to drive you nuts, I know. But if you sit there and just let your thoughts kind of go, and you start asking God to speak to your heart, He'll begin to start speaking to your heart at your point of need. You begin to hear His voice. Now, it'll be your voice

that you hear. I mean, you know, you'll be hearing, but you'll all of a sudden see He'll start speaking to you in thoughts, and you'll kind of start thinking some things, and you're thinking those things. But really, it's the Lord prompting you to think those things. You know, I know I need to be praying more, and all of a sudden somebody will come to mind, and, well, maybe I ought to pray for them. And it wasn't that you just thought of that. God's prompting your heart. And then when

you take time while you're like that to get in His Word and just kind of open it and read it a little bit, you know, you'd be amazed at how God starts speaking to you at your point of need. If you're going through relational trouble with a boyfriend, girlfriend kind of thing, or if you're going through problems with a parent, you know, or if you're going through a parent problem with a child, or if you're going through a problem at work, and you just kind of sit down with the Lord, God will speak to you at that point of need. And He's always going to reveal the fact that He's in control. That's the main thing He wants you to always see, is that He's in control. And

that's what He wants Peter to see, is He's in control. Peter's trying to figure everything out, but God's saying, I'm in control. Don't call anything that I've made clean and pure. And God's talking about people. Peter right now is seeing animals. But it brings us to a point of considering how many times have we looked at people around us like neighbors and thought of

them as unclean, you know, thought of them as impure, thought of them as just heathen to the max, and just want to separate yourself from them. And God's saying in that, don't call anything impure that I've died for. I died for him. I died for that family member that you don't like. I died for that coworker that you can't stand. I died for that classmate that's really been harassing you.

I died for them. And you need to see them through my eyes. It's real easy. See, if you don't, it's real easy to turn them off to the Lord. And they're the only picture of Jesus. You're the only picture of Jesus that they may see. So what kind of a picture of Jesus are you projecting to them in the workplace? How are actions that we do turning people away instead of drawing them to

Christ? A story called The First Time. It says, I saw him in the church building for the first time last Wednesday. He was in his mid-70s with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit. Many times in the past, I'd invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the good news with him. He was a well-respected, honest man

with so many characteristics a Christian should have, but he had never put on Christ.

I'd asked him a few years ago, have you ever been to a church service in your life? We'd just finished a pleasant day of visiting and talking, and he hesitated. And then with a bitter smile, he told me of a childhood experience some 60 years ago. He was one of many children in a large, impoverished family, and his parents had struggled to provide food with little left over for housing and clothing. When he was about

10, some neighbors had invited him to worship with them. The Bible class had been very exciting. He'd never heard such songs and stories before. He'd never heard anyone actually read from the Bible before. After class was over, the teacher took him aside and said, son, please don't come again dressed as you are now. We want to look our best when we come to worship the Lord.

He stood in his ragged, unpatched overalls, and he said, I'm going to worship the Lord. He stood in his ragged, unpatched overalls and looked at his bare, dirty feet and said, no, ma'am, I won't ever. And I never did, he said abruptly, ending our conversation. There must have been other factors to have hardened him so, but this experience formed a significant part of the bitterness in his heart.

I'm sure the Bible teacher meant well, but what if she had studied and accepted the teachings found in the second chapter of James? What if she had put her arms around that dirty, ragged little boy

I thought of the little boy of long ago, and I could almost hear him say, no, ma'am, I won't ever. And I wept. How many of we turned away from our actions and our attitudes? How many of, how many of we hindered in their seeing the truth of who Jesus is, the love that Jesus has for them, because we've got our little idiosyncrasies about them and we just don't want to hang with them and we don't want to spend time with them. We don't want

bring him back here. Peter's going, I don't get it. And God drops it again. I don't get it. And God drops it again. I don't get it. The apostle Peter. While Peter was wondering now about the meaning of the vision, he still doesn't get it. Verse 17. The men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. And they called out asking if Simon,

who was known as Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit finally said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Don't hesitate to go with them for I have sent them. And so Peter went down and he said to the man, I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come? And the men replied, we've come from

Cornelius the centurion. He's a righteous and God-fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people. And a holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have

do either. The Jews detested the Gentiles. The Pharisees, the religious rulers of the Jews, would even, if they saw a Gentile approaching them, would walk across the street if they could to avoid them. If they couldn't, they would grab their robes and pull them in tight as they passed, fearing that part of their robe would brush against them and they would be unclean.

They hated them. That was part of the culture. A Gentile couldn't be saved. Abraham stood at the gates of hell according to Jewish tradition and kept any Jew from entering hell, but was there to open wide the gate to shovel the Gentiles in. They hated him. And so God's moving in Peter's heart and Peter's starting to understand some of it. He gets it in the next few verses. The next day, Peter started out with them and some of the brothers from

Joppa went along as witnesses. He's going to a Gentile place, he's going to have witnesses, and he's going to have to answer for what he knows. So he's taking witnesses with him. And the following day, they arrived in Caesarea and Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. Cornelius believed God, trusted the Lord, has made preparation, invited all his relatives and close friends over. He's

open to whatever God has. He's open to what the Lord's going to do. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. Stand up, he said. I am only a man myself. Now, this is Pope Peter. Realize that. The Pope. And he doesn't want to be worshiped. He says, don't pay me homage. You realize how many people... The Pope

is coming, not Peter, but the Pope is coming next January, if he lives that long, to St. Louis. You know how many people are going to flock to St. Louis to see the Pope? And they're already interviewing him on TV, the people in the area that are going to make that pilgrimage. And they've asked him why they're going to go. And several of them have said, because he's the holiness of God,

and to be in his presence, he just emanates this holiness. And they're going to worship. They're going to worship the Pope. And Peter's saying here, don't do it. Don't worship me. I am just a man. I am simply a man. The Bible says there's only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. Him and him alone do you worship. There's a statue of Peter in St. Peter's Basilica

in Rome. I haven't seen it. I've just read about it. And the toes of the statue have been worn away from the worshipers who come and kiss the toes and touch the toes of Peter there in St. Peter's. And yet, you know, we're set up, brothers and sisters, the world is set up for the Antichrist. If we're worshiping men, if our hope is in men, if your hope is in a president,

boy, is that hopeless. But if your hope is in any world leader, you have your hope in the wrong place. There isn't a world leader that's going to save the world. It's only the Lord. And last week, we had the Y2K article in the bulletins. And if I can get some more of those, if you didn't get one, it was from Chuck Missler's newsletter. And the Y2K was simply talking about the year 2000, the computer problem. You're hearing more about it now,

reluctantly from the secular press, because they realize the detriment of what's going to happen in the next year and a half as we move to the turn of not only the century, but the millennium. And computer things are going to shut down all over the place, from the banking industry, to Wall Street, to the airline, air traffic controllers, to the power grids across the country. There's just not enough time left to get everything switched over. So anticipate.

If we're still here, anticipate that that's going to happen and ask God to make you ready to help the people that are going to be in absolute chaos when that happens, because it's going to happen. And what a tremendous opportunity for some guy to just kind of step in and say, well, I've got some answers here we need to pull together. The banking systems are down around the world. So let's, as we bring them up, we'll just have one common currency. We'll bring everybody up to a level playing field. All debt is forgiven.

We'll start over. Let's bring all the economies together. And since all the stock exchanges are down, let's just keep the trade barriers down. And we'll just have total global trade. And everybody will be brought together economically. And to help everybody through this crisis, let's bring all the religious leaders in the world together and just be there to counsel and pray for

everybody. We'll just be one happy family. What an opportunity for the Antichrist to just step on the scene. If that doesn't happen, something close to that's going to happen. Our hope is not in an individual. Our hope is in the Lord. And Peter says, I am just a man. Don't worship me. Get up. Verse 27, and talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.

And he said to them, you are well aware that it's against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. Peter finally gets it. He won't get it again a few chapters later and Paul has to rebuke him, but he gets, he's getting it pretty good now. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any

objection. May I ask why you sent for me? And Cornelius answered, four days ago, I was in my house praying at this hour, three in the afternoon, and suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He's a guest in the home of Simon the tenor,

who lives by the sea. And so I sent for you immediately and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. Now what a congregation. We're here, preach, brother. Charles Spurgeon was once asked, what makes a man a great preacher? And without hesitation, he answered, a great congregation.

A congregation is just willing to hear the word of God. That's there and they just want to hear the word of God. You guys are a great congregation. That's why you're here, is to just hear the word and respond to it. And Peter began to speak. I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but he accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

He accepts us all who fear him and do what is right. It wasn't in Last Sunday's Eagle, but the Sunday before there was an article on the Times Square Church. Maybe you saw it. Dave Wilkerson's Church in New York City in Times Square. It's in an old theater, an old Broadway theater right there in Times Square. And about 8,000 to 10,000 people a Sunday come through there for different services. A big article on the church and showed a picture of the

lobby. And part of the article that talked about one of his assistant pastors is the guy who played Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar back in the seventies. And the guy said he was on drugs when he was playing Jesus Christ in that and ended up going to prison. And David Berkowitz, the son of Sam, led him to the Lord and discipled him. And he's now one of Dave Wilkerson's assistant pastors.

How God works, huh? How God works. God doesn't show favoritism. God loves people more than anything. And Peter says, I now understand that. I now know that. God doesn't accept, he accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message that God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of

all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had

already chosen, by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he's the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him and everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Peter's just getting wrapped up. I mean, he's rolling now. He's got

that preacher attitude really coming forth, and he's going to take them right to the line here, but while he's still speaking, it says, those words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. God interrupted Peter while he's speaking. Peter didn't get to say, now, as we sing, just as I am. If there's any of you who would like to accept the Lord, you can come forward.

Do that at this time. We'll wait. Never got to that point. He never even really got to the, to the point of asking him if they wanted to receive the Lord. He just, he's just, and I like that. I like that because you've probably been in that place where somebody's talked to you about the Lord and, and you have maybe five or 10 minutes on a break and they all

of a sudden ask you a question and, and you're all of a sudden into your mind come all of the, everything you learned in, in Sunday school as a child and, you know, and stuff you've been hearing in church and maybe reading in your devotions and you're going, where do I start? And you kind of start to, and I don't know how to, I'm not a preacher, you know, I just, and you start to kind of, and you feel like you're fumbling around and, and, and then all of a sudden you kind of, things start coming together and, and, and you kind of have an idea of where you want to go and then it breaks over. They say, you know, I'm sorry, I got to leave. And you, and you feel kind of, I didn't get anywhere. Where did I get? That's exciting because God's

leading that. God just wants you available just to tell them what you, what you know about the Lord, even as basic, even if he interrupts it. Now I like programs to a certain extent. You may, you may not know the bridge concept and that's okay. If you, if you can, if you learn the bridge presentation of the gospel, that's great. You may not know the Roman road, the different scriptures

in Romans that you can talk to a person and talk to them about the Lord and, and you can learn that, and that's great. That's a good presentation. We did the Colossians 2, 7 Navigators Discipleship program here, and that's great. It helps, helps if you've never given your testimony before, it helps you learn how to give your testimony and, and learn to have a heart for evangelism, to pray for others that they, you know, to get an eye for others and praying for them that they might get saved. But I'm not really into programs because in everything you see in the Word,

it's not done with a program. God is doing it his way and all he wants is a willing vessel that's willing to just speak for him. You do certain programs and you're, you know, you're in the midst of, you know, presenting the bridge and you're here and the person's already going, you know, I know I'm over here, I'm dead. And you go, well, wait a minute, you know, I want to, I want to show you over here because I got to get, you know, I memorized the verses for over here too. And then I got to draw the bridge with the cross and, and get from here to here. And,

you know, you can get wrapped up in your program presentation and you, and you're thinking I've got to do this this way. And if I miss a question or if I, you know, if I, what happens if I forget this particular verse that gets them from this side to this side, and then I, and you can get so wrapped up in that, that you, you just leave the Lord out of it. You leave the Holy Spirit out of the presentation. When, if you're just you and you're just there at work or at school or wherever, and you're around this individual and the opportunities there, and you begin to share and you trust the Lord to lead you, let him lead. He knows how much to share and let him

interrupt. And that way, when he leads this person to the Lord, it's not you and it's not your program and you don't get another notch on your belt. It's just the Lord. And Peter's speaking and God interrupts Peter. Peter's been interrupted a lot by God. He was interrupted on a Mount of Transfiguration. Let's build shelters here. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And God

said, shut up. This is my son. Listen to him and whom I'm well pleased. Caesarea Philippi. Whom do men say that I am? Oh, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed are you, Peter. Flesh and blood does not reveal that to you, but my father is in heaven. And now I've got to go to Jerusalem where I'm going to suffer at the hands of men and die. May it never be. Get thee behind

me, Satan. You know, Peter's been interrupted a lot. While he was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. They had heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Just another identifier.

This area of tongues with the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not the absolute. It's used by God in demonstrating these different areas in Acts where the different groups of people, the Samaritans are brought in, the Gentiles are brought in, the Old Testament believers of John the Baptist, under John the Baptist, they're all brought in. And the evidence is the speaking in tongues. The Spirit has come upon them. And to show that they're nothing less than the experience that

happened to the Jews in Jerusalem, God gives them that gift of tongues at that particular time. But that does not mandate that every time you're saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, you're going to speak with tongues. It's not a mandate. But Peter said as he sees it, can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

And so he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. And so Peter now stays in the home of a Gentile for several days. And God is giving both Peter and Cornelius his vision, his eyesight. It's the cross that's made people clean. It's the cross that's put down the walls of separation. Now God doesn't see male and

female, Gentile and Jew, Scythian or barbarian, slave or free. The opportunity is there to come to the Lord through the cross. And it's there for everybody. And if you haven't received the Lord this morning, the opportunity is there for you. And all you have to do is ask. As we close in prayer, we'll just pray and ask the Lord to just prompt your heart to ask him to come in. He's

already made the way. He's already made the way possible through the death of his son on the cross. But probably more necessary this morning, and I'm not saying that that's not necessary, but most of you are probably believers, are the people that you're around, that God wants to work through you in their lives. And he wants you to have his eyes where they're concerned. Father, help us this morning to do just that. Lord, if there are any here this

morning that have never come to that point of really seeing your love for them, they've done the church thing, but they've never really experienced the fact that you love them more than anything. God, may they come to know that this morning right now. May they just ask you to come in. You've made the way clear. You've died for their sins. God, may they receive that wonderful

blessing, amazing love. May they receive it this morning. And Lord, may we have your vision for the people around us. God, you want them. You want to save them. You love them. Give us your love, Father. Give us your love for them. Don't let us be a stumbling block keeping people from you. Don't let us think that we're so much better than anybody, that it keeps them from coming

into that relationship. Lord, please, please bless. Use us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand.

And I will worship you with all of my mind. And I will worship you with all of my strength. You are my Lord.

And I will worship you with all of my heart. And I will worship you with all of my mind. And I will worship you with all of my strength. You are my Lord.

For you are my Lord. You are my Lord. Ready, scout. You're dismissed.