Don’t Say “No” to God . Acts 11:1-18
1. Peter Says “No” to the Divine Peter said No 3 times before the cock crowed he said I don’t know him
• Notice who, Peter and us say no to , according to the Nicene Creed, God is the “Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible”;
• Saint Anselm, God that we say no to is a “being in which nothing greater can be thought of”
• Saint Aquinas, is the great Unmoved Mover, the Uncaused Cause, and who has revealed himself in creation and written his law in human hearts;
• King David, “Where can I go from your spirit: Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there” (Psalm 139:7-8);
• Isaiah trembled and said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ (Isaiah 6:5). This is God who we say NO to
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2. Peter does say No to God again after the chicken encounter
• Peter said “No” to God three times. In the vision,
• While in Joppa, Peter was praying and slipped into a “trance [and] saw a vision.” A tablecloth came floating and twirling down from heaven and before him was things like “four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air” (v. 6).
• Peter then heard a “voice,”. He was told to “get up … kill and eat.” Peter said No offered his first Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” This happened three times.
3. The Things Peter had to say No to:
• Peter was either saying-no to God or would He say No to religious thought of the day
• Peter was going to say no to his upbringing and education in Sabbath school
• Peter was about to say”NO” to the teaching of the rabbis and to his Jewish family
• It was unthinkable that Peter would eat this stuff and defile himself in this way. He was a Jew!
4. Thank God Peter says yes
• Peter said yes when three Gentiles, men from the north, invited him to go to a house in Caesarea.
• Peter said Yes to The Holy Spirit. He said the Holy Spirit told me to go with them 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.”
• Peter said yes to go to a gentiles house 3 He (Cornelius”) told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’Who is Cornelius? “An officer in the army of Imperial Rome.
• Peter said Yes and the result “a message by which Cornelius entire household will be saved” (v. 14).
5. Do we say no to God?
• Are we still saying “No” to God? Sometimes we say no to God on Sunday morn, we say No to Deeper commitments, No when God calls, But we do say yes sometimes.
• This is how must of us say Yes to God “Yes, but wait. ”Yes, but so-and-so won’t like it.”
• “Yes, but we’ve never done it like this before.” “Yes, but I think others should take their turn.”
• “Yes, but this is not my thing.”“Yes, but you should really ask someone else.”
6. Fortunately, Peter did say Yes it certainly was fortunate to the family of Cornelius,
• He was share the gospel with Cornelius, the Roman soldier, and his families were saved.
• Why does God want us to say yes because God wants: our children Baptized if you didn’t bring them would they have made this commitment?
• God wants all people to live and “come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:19, NKJV);God wants all people to remember those too often forgotten;
• God wants us to support those who are oppressed;
• God wants to lift up the lowly and fill the mouths of the hungry (see Luke 1:46-55).
