God Cares Series

A Church that cares Acts 9:32-43, 10:1ff

Illustration: Advertisements that do not belong together.

Angelina’s fine Italian food and bait shop

Karate Club and Senior Center

Divorce Lawyer and wedding planner

KFC we do one thing, and we do it better than anyone else. We do Chicken right.

This passage connects 4 lives that otherwise have seemingly have nothing in common. On the surface they have one thing in common, one person ministers to all four. They also have this in common, God cares.

1. God cares for Individuals who have nothing to contribute. (slide 1)

a. Aenaes the paralytic. (High Maintenance People)

i. Been lying there for a long time

ii. No mention of family or friends.

iii. He has nothing to contribute to society

iv. Many who loose use of their limbs feel helpless and get depressed

1. Some Paralysis is not physical but mental

2. Some have been paralyzed by fear, drugs, alcohol and the like.

v. Similar scene in the beginning of Acts.

1. The power to heal is not ours, it is God’s

2. When God heals, He wants us to do something.

3. A person’s worth is not measured by what they can do, but how they are seen in the eyes of God.

b. Aeneas had worth in God’s eyes because God made him

i. There are no “nobody’s” in God’s eyes

ii. Our Creator loves us unconditionally

iii. Pyschologists state “we will be what we think the greatest person in our lives thinks we are.” God says “YOU ARE WORTH THE LIFE OF MY BELOVED SON.”

iv. There are no outcasts, no worthless people in the eyes of God.

v. God cares for those who have nothing to contribute, and so should we.

vi. God healed him, and because of him many in Lydda and Sharon believed and turned to the LORD.

It is Time for those who have been healed of their paralysis to get up and take the word with them.

2. God cares for the helpers (Tabitha)

a. She had the spiritual gift of Helper/giver

b. She was sick, dying, the people she cared for were with her.

c. Up to this time, no Apostle raised the dead. They had healed, they have exorcised, but had not resurrected the dead yet.

d. They got Peter

i. He knelt before the dead woman and prayed

ii. Tabitha get up

1. Similar command to the Aeneas

2. She immediately gets up (something else they now have in common)

3. She is presented to all the people and many now become believers (another thing they now have in common)

God cares for those who have nothing to offer society. God cares for those who have everything to give to society, because He made them. They have something to offer for HIM. God cares for both those who have nothing to contribute and those with a lot to contribute and he can use both of them to have much impact on other people. We just never know. Don’t underestimate what God can do in you or someone else.

3. God cares for Simon the Tanner, those who do not know what they can contribute.

a. Red Leather Cowboy Boots

b. Very smelly trade, normally done on the outskirts of town.

c. Tanners are very ordinary people. Those who work jobs most people would avoid, yet without them we would not have what we have.

d. House by the sea

i. God used Simon the Tanner to prepare Peter to met Cornelius.

ii. God uses those who do not know what they can contribute to prepare for other ministries.

iii. Caretakers, HHA, visiting RN’s, Hospice.

God cares for those who do not know what they can do, and God uses them in a mighty way.

4. God cares for those who are powerful (Cornelius)

a. Cornelius is a ruling Centurion Gentile

b. He is God-fearing, many believe he may have been the Centurion at the Crucifixion

c. His prayers are heard.

d. Soon his prayers will be answered.

e. God will use Cornelius to spread the word.

No matter what our station in life is, God cares for us, God can use us, and we can do mighty works for HIM.