Lessons From A Good Man Series

Acts 10 - 4/2/17

Turn with me this morning to Acts 10.  M, M, L, J, Acts - the 5th book in the NT.  We have been looking at this book that is a transitional book in the bible - taking us from the earthly ministry of Jesus as presented in the gospels - then Acts tells us how the gospel, the good news of salvation in Jesus spread - and then as the gospel spreads and churches are formed, God leads men to write the epistles, letters to the churches to tell them what to believe and how to live.

So today we look in chapter 10 to remember how we can BE the church, and not just come TO church.  Lest we ever forget - WE are the church.  The church is the called out assembly, we are called out from the world, called to be different, called to believe differently, called to live differently.  And our calling is to share what we have learned with others to help them also be faithful followers of Jesus Christ.  Paul tells Timothy, his young protegé, in 2 Timothy 2:2 - And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.  Today, are you sharing with anyone else what you know to be true?  If not, why not?

We often think “God doesn’t need me” - it’s true, He doesn’t NEED you - but He WANTS you - God wants to use you to share the good news of salvation with others.  And when you say NO - you are really saying that GOD is NOT the one in control - YOU are!  What a scary thing to think of - that we would say NO to the God of all creation.  But that’s what we’ll see taking place in our story today: Peter says “No” to God three times.  Today, as we come to God’s word - let’s commit in advance to say YES to whatever God might say to us through His word, however He might lead us, let’s commit that we are going to obey, we are going to follow.  Even if we don’t LIKE what He tells us, let’s decide that we WILL obey.  Let’s pray!  And as we pray, I would encourage you to silently make that commitment to God.

God, today we commit to you that whatever you show us, we will do.  We admit your word is truth, and we want to be guided by your word, but we don’t want to be guided just to know what we should do, we want to be guided so we actually can DO what you call us to do.  Speak to us each today, we ask in Christ’s name, Amen.

Today, why are you here today?  The answer is Acts 10.  We are each here today because of a man named Cornelius.  This is a pivotal chapter of the bible, and we often overlook how very important it is.  Because today we will see a change as the gospel goes from being good news for Jews and half Jew to being good news for all the rest of the world, all the non-Jews, who are called by the ethnic nickname Gentiles.

In the book of Acts, we see that Jesus gave a commission to His disciples to take the gospel into all the world.  They were to start at Jerusalem, their hometown, then go to Judea and Samaria, their county and the next county away, and then to the rest of the world.  In the gospels, as Jesus traveled around, the multitudes followed Him.  Jesus has chosen 12 to be with him, His 12 disciples - and of those, three had special access - Peter, James, and John.  And of those three John is the one specially loved, and he is the apostle who speaks in his letters much about love; James, his brother, is the steady, stable one - he is the one chosen to lead the church at Jerusalem; and Peter, bold, brash, Peter - man of action - he is the one Jesus chooses to be the leader in taking the gospel to the different people groups.  In Matthew 16 Jesus says to Peter, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  What does that mean?  

In Acts 2 Peter is the one who brings the gospel to the Jews.  He stands up on the day of Pentecost when thousands of Jews are present from all the countries in the Middle East, and Peter preaches a powerful sermon.  3,000 people respond at the altar call, and the church is born in a day.  In Acts 8, Peter uses a second key on his key ring: Philip goes to Samaria, the country of the half-breed Jews - the “rednecks” - and Philip preaches and they believe.  So they send for Peter, who comes and prays for them and lays his hands on them and now THEY receive the Holy Spirit.  Peter has opened a door for the redneck Jews to be saved.  Now in Acts 10, God tells Peter to get out the third key on his key ring: this time he is going to open the door for the gospel to go to the non-Jews - we call them Gentiles.  And they also will believe and receive the Holy Spirit.