No Favorites (Pastor Greg Hudson, 05/25/24)

Your faithfulness is amazing.

Your faithfulness is great.

And so often we have forgotten that, we have not recognized that, we have gone our own

way and you continue to love us, you continue to care for us.

Guide and bless us as we open up your word this morning.

In your name we pray, amen.

If you've ever driven through the traffic spot known as Brainerd Road, over there, you

know, maybe you've seen the flashing red light that says Hot and Ready at the Krispy Kreme.

You know where I'm talking about?

Okay.

If you've been in that area, you may or may not have realized that you were in the vicinity

of a former Native American mission.

Brainerd Road is named after a famous missionary to the Native Americans named David Brainerd.

Now David Brainerd was not in this area, but before our nation was even a nation in the

early 1700s, he was a missionary to the Native Americans in the vast wilderness known as

New England and New Jersey, because that was the border of the colony in that time.

Now David Brainerd, he was converted to be a Christian when he was about 16 or so, and

from a very early age he felt called to serve as a missionary to the Native Americans.

Even though shortly after he was converted, he began to suffer sickness from recurring

tuberculosis that he had.

So about five years from his time that he was finished with his schooling, he was serving

these Native American villages in that area of New England and New Jersey until he died

at the age of 29 in 1747.

He had a heart for others.

He had eyes for others as he would ride his horse from village to village, and he would

take to them the message of Jesus.

As he lay sick at night, coughing, as he came back from time to time to regain his strength,

he would go back out until finally he died at the age of 29.

He had a heart and he had eyes for others.

Now there's a song, a Christian song by an artist named Brandon Heath, and in that song

there's a line that says, give me your eyes.

Give me your eyes, and the song says, give me your eyes for just a minute.

Give me your love for humanity, the song goes on to say.

Is that a song that we could sing?

Is that a prayer that we would be praying?

Is that a prayer that is answered in our own life?

Do we look at others through the eyes of Jesus?

Do we look at others the same way that Jesus does?

Even in the early church, there was need of miraculous intervention for them to want to

look at others the way that Jesus did.

We are continuing in Acts today, so we're going to start in Acts 1 verse 8, and I'm

Acts 1:8

going to tell you that after today we're going to step away from the book of Acts for a little

bit because in the fall we're planning to do some outreach, some evangelism, and so

over the summer we're going to look at some different topics, some different things, but

we have been looking at the early church, and so we're going to go to 1 Acts chapter

Acts 1 · chapter mention

1 and verse 8 because we've talked about this a lot because this is kind of the table

of contents you could say.

This lays out what happens in the book of Acts, and it says, but you shall receive power

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

We've talked about this before, that we receive something from the Holy Spirit.

We receive power, and it's not just for fun, it's not just for ourselves, but we can receive

power to be witnesses.

And then it lists some different locations, and the book of Acts follows these locations.

You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem.

That was Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and

Acts 2 · chapter mention

3,000 souls were baptized, and then it talks about 5,000, and then it talks about the group

multiplying, and then it says, in all Judea and Samaria, and it took them a little while,

but I think the last time we looked at Acts, which was like a month ago because we had

a guest speaker, we looked at Acts chapter 8, which told the story of Philip.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Does anybody remember where Philip went?

He went to the desert eventually, but first he went to Samaria, and then he followed the

guidance of the angel and went into the wilderness and found someone from Ethiopia and shared

the gospel with them.

And so now they're going to Judea and Samaria, but it took persecution.

If you remember that, the Christians were driven out of Jerusalem, and it took persecution.

And then it says, to the ends of the earth.

Now when we last left our people in Acts, they hadn't done that.

They had gone to Judea and Samaria, but we're going to pick up the story in Acts chapter

Acts 10 · chapter mention

10, and we're going to see where they begin to go to the ends of the earth.

It's actually Peter, which is first called to begin to make these changes, to make this

cross-cultural evangelism.

And as Peter did this, this idea of crossing a cultural barrier became legit in the eyes

of the church.

Now there's one character in the book of Acts who's kind of known as the apostle to the

Gentiles.

Who's that?

Anybody remember?

Paul.

So even before Paul begins to go to the Gentiles, because Paul's a new guy, Peter is the one

that begins to make it legit.

And you may or may not have noticed, I'm going to guess you didn't notice, that we skipped

Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

And I'm just going to tell you, eventually we're going to come back to Acts, and we're

going to pick up in Acts chapter 9, because that tells the conversion of Saul, who became

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Paul.

So we're going to skip that for today, and we're going to go to Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

But to just set the context, at the end of Acts chapter 9, Peter goes to where Philip

Acts 9 · chapter mention

is gone.

He goes to Samaria.

He goes to some of the towns that Philip went to.

And as Peter is going, he is working miracles.

He's healing people.

He even resurrects someone at the end of Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

There's a lady who is a supporter of others, who helps other people, who certainly has

the eyes and hands of Jesus as she's making clothes and helping those that are in need.

What's her name?

Dorcas.

And in fact, our church and other churches often have a Dorcas society, where people

are helping those that are in need.

But Dorcas actually passes away.

She dies.

And they call for Peter.

And Peter prays, and he says, Tabitha, Dorcas, Gazelle, arise.

And she opened up her eyes.

And then at the very end of Acts chapter 9, verse 43, it says, he stayed many days in

Acts 9:43

Joppa with Simon the tanner.

Now keep that in mind.

We're going to pick up this story, because when we get to Acts chapter 10, we're going

Acts 10 · chapter mention

to see two stories that happened a couple days apart and about 30 miles apart.

But these two stories intersect at the perfect time and the perfect place to make a world-changing

event take place.

So here we are, Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Peter, who's he staying with?

Simon the tanner.

Now what is a tanner?

A tanner is someone who works with skins, who maybe makes saddles or leather or sandals.

So he's working with dead animals.

So it's kind of a stinky job.

It's a hot job, because you've got to boil these and dry these and tan these hides.

And because of that, because of their constant contact with dead animals, someone who was

in this profession was unclean all the time.

Because if you touched a dead body in the Old Testament, there was a certain time period

that you would be ceremonially unclean.

So Simon, that was his job.

So he was always ceremonially unclean.

And Peter is staying with him.

But now we're going to go to Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

And it says there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was

called the Italian regiment.

So this Cornelius, he is a centurion.

So he's a military leader, like our veterans.

He would have been over approximately 100 people, a century of people.

One hundred soldiers would have been under his command.

And so he would have been a leader.

He would probably have served with them in battle.

They would have respected him.

They would have listened to him.

And it says he was from the Italian regiment.

So he was from his name and from his location.

He would have been a Gentile.

He would have been an outsider.

He would not have been popular among the Jewish people because he was an occupying army.

He was a Gentile.

He was a pagan.

All these different things.

And yet verse two, it describes him a little more.

It says he was a devout man and one who feared God with all of his household.

So somehow Cornelius had begun to learn about the true God.

And he was a follower of God.

And he even gave gifts.

He gave alms generously to the people.

And he prayed to God always.

That's a pretty good testimony about somebody.

I wish, I hope that they could say that about me.

That I'm generous.

That I am praying to God.

And so that's who Cornelius was as he's praying to God.

And something happens.

He is in the town of Caesarea, which is on the coast, up high on the coast here.

And down here at the bottom or in the middle is the town of Joppa.

So that's kind of the two places that this is happening.

That's where Cornelius is.

And then something also happens in Joppa because that's where Simon the Tanner lived.

So we go to verse 3 and it says, about the ninth hour of the day, ninth hour.

What time is that?

That's not 9 a.m.

It's not 9 p.m.

It's the ninth hour of the daylight.

So it's about 3 p.m. or so.

And this is usually the time of the evening sacrifice if you see that mentioned.

So it's approximately around 3 p.m.

If noon is the sixth hour, nine is about, the ninth hour is about 3 p.m.

So this is the time of prayer, the time of sacrifice.

And it says, Cornelius saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him,

Cornelius.

So an angel comes to him as he's having this prayer and the angel knows who he is.

There's something really cool when someone knows your name.

If you haven't seen somebody for a while and they know who you are, they recognize your

name.

I think I mentioned this a few weeks ago.

I was at the Pathfinder Camperee for an afternoon doing some videos.

There's going to be a camp meeting next week.

And as I was walking amongst those Pathfinders, a couple different times I heard somebody

say, Pastor Greg, Pastor Greg.

And I turn and look and it was someone who had formerly been a student when I was a teacher

at GCA and now they were a Pathfinder leader at various locations across the campus.

And they knew my name.

But on a couple of those incidents, I had to say, remind me of your name because they

had grown, they had changed, and it was a long time ago.

And so it was special to me that they knew my name and it was a little disheartening

that I didn't always remember their name.

But in this case, Cornelius is praying and the angel comes and says, Cornelius, God knows

his name.

And it goes on and says, when he observed him, when he saw this angel, he was afraid

and said, what is it, Lord?

And so he said to him, your prayers and your alms, your gifts have come up for a memorial

before God.

And then it says, now send men to Joppa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter.

And the next verse even says where Simon is staying, with Simon the tanner.

So God knew Cornelius' name, God knew Simon Peter's name, and he knew the address.

That's really awesome to remember that God knows who we are and he knows where we are.

Now it mentioned another city.

Where was Simon the tanner?

Where did he live?

Joppa.

Now Joppa, we saw that was on the coast.

Joppa is probably most known as a town where somebody left.

You sometimes hear people say, that's a good place to be from, meaning you don't live there

anymore.

As someone from Tennessee, we would say Alabama is a good place to be from, meaning you've

left that.

I apologize for those that are from Alabama or fans or whatever.

But Joppa was known because someone left Joppa.

In the Old Testament, there was a prophet of God who God told, go to preach to Nineveh.

And I heard somebody say it, Jonah, the prophet of God, did not go to Nineveh.

Instead, he went to Joppa on the coast and he got on a boat so that he could sail all

the way across the Mediterranean Sea and get as far away from Nineveh as he possibly could.

And you know how that story ends.

There's a storm that blows up.

Jonah tells the people to throw him into the ocean or into the sea and a great fish comes

and swallows Jonah.

And so in that story, you have a prophet of God fleeing from Joppa to get away from where

God wants him to go.

But in this story, we see a pagan military leader who obeys God and sends his men to

Joppa to find Peter.

Because in this vision, this angel tells him to send men to Joppa and find this man named

Peter.

And so that's the ninth hour, so about three o'clock.

So apparently they must have set out immediately and begun this 30-mile journey.

It's about a 30-mile trip between those two places.

And then we come to part two of the story.

And we can look at it in verse nine.

Verse nine, it says, the next day, let me get there, verse nine, the next day as they

went on their journey and drew near the city, so they'd left, they'd spent the night somewhere,

they'd woken up early to continue their journey.

And at just the perfect time, 30 miles away, the day after, here we have Peter on the housetop

to pray.

It seems to be a theme in this story.

Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.

So the sixth hour of daylight, what time is that?

It's about noon.

It's pretty hot at noon.

The sun is straight above.

It's the beginning of the hottest part of the day.

And it says, it goes on in verse 10, that he became very hungry and he wanted to eat.

And while they were preparing lunch, he fell into a trance.

He had a dream.

Or he had a vision as well.

Now, I actually had the privilege of being at Joppa, at Simon the Tanner's house.

It's very close to modern day Tel Aviv.

It's right on the coast.

So you can imagine being on the top of a house overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

If you've been to the lake or the sea, you know, it smells a little different.

It's got that fishy smell that is just really good.

It's got that ocean smell that people love.

And I can imagine Peter looking out and seeing sails on the Mediterranean Sea.

Maybe his mind goes back to his days as a fisherman, on a ship, on a boat, casting nets

into the water, the smells, the breeze, the sun, the wind.

And maybe his mind goes back to when God called him from that.

Jesus called him from that and said, you're not going to be a fisher of fish anymore because

I have called you to be a fisher of men.

And at this time, as they're preparing lunch for him, Peter, it says, falls into a trance,

has a vision.

And you can read through that and it says, he saw heaven opened in this dream and down

comes a sheet.

And this sheet is full of all kinds of animals.

It says in verse 12, four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and

birds of the air.

And he hears a voice that says to him in verse 13, and the voice says, rise, Peter, kill,

and eat.

And Peter said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything.

Then he uses two words, common or unclean.

Common or unclean.

And it says, the voice spoke to him again and says, what God has cleansed, you must

not call.

What does he say?

Common.

He says, what God has cleansed, don't call it common.

And this was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven.

So I just want to talk about this for just a second because Peter makes it very clear

as this goes on.

This is not talking about food.

A few verses later, Peter says, God's shown me that I should not call any man common or

unclean.

This is verse 28, this is not talking about the menu, he's talking about humanity.

And so I just wanted to point that out.

The common, like Simon the tanner, he was unclean, he was common because he was spending

so much time with those dead animals.

And in their mindset, if a clean animal was there with the unclean, then you could say

they're contaminated.

It's rubbed off on them.

And so God is saying, what God has cleansed, you must not call common.

That's all I want to say about that.

If you have questions, ask me later.

But what I want to point out is that perhaps, perhaps, as Seventh-day Adventists, we have

spent so much time trying to show what this does not say, because this doesn't say, because

he's not talking about food here.

We spent so much time trying to show what this does not say, that perhaps we've missed

what it actually does say.

Because he's talking about how we look at others, how we treat other people, that everybody

is equal in God's eyes, that everybody has a part in the gospel of Jesus, in the free

grace that Jesus wants to pour out.

Because now these two stories come together with perfect timing.

Because as Peter's vision is complete, here come the visitors.

Verse 19, it says, While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold,

three men are seeking you.

So the timing is perfect.

Even though these visions happen in different cities on different days, and yet the time

it took for those guys to come from Caesarea to Joppa, it just fit together perfectly for

this world-changing interaction to take place.

Peter thought about the vision.

The Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are seeking you.

Arise therefore, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.

The Spirit says, Here come these guys, go with them.

Don't be afraid.

Doubt nothing, I have sent them.

Go with this group.

They're Gentiles.

Normally, the Jews and the Gentiles would not interact, but God is saying, Go with them.

I think that as Christians, sometimes we don't want to associate with others that are not

Christians.

But if Christians are afraid to interact, to associate with unbelievers, then guess

what?

The mission of the Gospel is never going to be fulfilled, because somebody's got to talk

to somebody.

And if we don't want to talk to anybody, then guess what?

They're never going to know.

Many people, certainly not in this church, but many people don't even know others who

aren't part of the church.

Maybe they sit at the desk next to you at work, but do you know them?

Do we really talk to them?

Do we interact with people?

Because if we don't, this mission of the Gospel is never, ever going to be fulfilled.

Let's look at verse 22.

And they said, Peter asked them, Why did you come here?

And they said, Cornelius, the centurion, they're giving his resume here.

He's a just man.

He's one who fears God.

He has a good reputation among all the nations of the Jews.

He was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words

from you.

I want to look at two things about that.

One, Cornelius had a pretty good resume there.

He was a just man.

He had a good reputation, but that wasn't enough.

Still there was a divine appointment that needed to be made because Cornelius needed

to learn about Jesus.

Being a good person was not enough.

Being a just person was not enough if you're missing that relationship, if you're missing

that reaction with Jesus.

But there's another thing here.

This seems like a whole bunch of steps.

An angel comes to Cornelius.

Cornelius, send your group to go get Peter.

And they go get Peter and then bring Peter back because Peter has a message to tell.

Couldn't, think about this for a second, couldn't the angel have just told Cornelius

the message?

Why all these extra steps?

Why go get Peter?

Why send these men?

Why bring Peter back?

Couldn't the angel have just told?

I think it's because the message of the cross has to be shared by those who are saved by

the cross.

The angel hadn't experienced what Peter had.

And so the angel told them to go find this mistake prone, this sinner, this loud mouth,

this sometimes hot head, go find Peter and have Peter talk about Jesus.

And so that was the invitation.

And that's what they did.

Whoops, I went too far.

Verse 23, then he invited them in and what did they do?

He lodged them.

This Jewish man staying with this tanner and now he's got Gentiles in the house.

Have mercy.

This is like, he's breaking so many barriers here.

They stay in the house together and it says the next day Peter went away with them and

some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied them.

So they're going back 30 miles to go find Cornelius and eventually they come to Caesarea

and Cornelius is waiting for them it says.

And he wasn't just waiting alone but he called his household and his friends and his family

and he said, you've got to hear, somebody's going to share a message with us.

And when he walks in, in verse 25, it says Cornelius fell down and tried to worship him.

And Peter's like, no, no, no, no, I'm just a man.

Don't worship me.

This is not what it's all about.

And he comes in and they say in verse 28, in verse 27, he talked with them and went

in and found many had come together.

They were ready for something.

And he said to them, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with

or go to one of another nation.

But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

This is Peter's interpretation of that vision.

This is why Peter is there.

Because he had a dream, he had a vision, and God showed him not to call any man, not to

call any person common or unclean.

And so we see verse 33, it says, Cornelius is saying, so I sent to you immediately and

you have done well to come.

Now therefore, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded by you, commanded

you by God.

And so Peter is there.

And it says in verse 34, I perceive that God shows no partiality.

Some versions say God does not show favoritism.

God sees every person in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted

by him.

God does not show favoritism.

God shows no partiality.

And so Peter stands before that group who is ready.

And he tells the story of Jesus, and you can read it in his words, and he tells the story

of the cross, and he tells the story of the resurrection like no angel ever could.

Because an angel had never denied Jesus.

An angel had not fallen asleep when Jesus said, please pray with me, I'm about to go

to the cross.

An angel hadn't told a little girl, no, I don't know the man.

An angel had not left all to be a fisher of men.

An angel hadn't been received back by Jesus, accepted back in spite of his sins.

And so Peter was able to tell the story of Jesus in a way that that angel never could.

And we can look down to verse 43 and it says, to him, all the prophets witnessed that through

his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins, or will receive forgiveness

of sins.

Who's that?

Who can receive remission of sins?

Everybody, whoever.

It doesn't matter.

It reminds us of Galatians 3 verse 28.

Galatians 3:28

I'm going to turn over to it.

Galatians 3 verse 28.

Galatians 3:28

It says that there is, let me get there, Galatians 3 verse 28.

Galatians 3:28

It says there is neither Jew nor Greek nor Palestinian nor slave nor free nor black,

white, Asian, Hispanic.

It doesn't matter.

There's neither male nor female for you are all one in Jesus.

Even in the church from time to time, we have fallen short.

We have acted differently.

We have treated people differently because of some outward appearance or because of some

past action.

But the Bible tells us God does not show favoritism.

That whoever comes to him, it doesn't matter what their past is, it doesn't matter what

their present is, but we are recognized that we can be saved by the grace of Jesus.

Whoever comes to him.

And that most famous verse of the Bible, perhaps John 3 verse 16, what does it say?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him should

not perish but will have everlasting life.

Whoever believes.

Forgive us Lord for the time that we have fallen short.

Forgive us for the times that we have treated someone differently.

Back in Acts chapter 10 it says while Peter was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit

Acts 10 · chapter mention

fell upon all those who heard the word.

The Gentiles were able to be baptized.

As you go to Acts chapter 11 after this baptism took place, Peter goes to Jerusalem and the

Acts 11 · chapter mention

people in Jerusalem are like, what did we hear that you did?

You had these people stay at the house with you?

You went and you baptized this Gentile, this Roman centurion?

And most of Acts chapter 11 is Peter explaining the story, telling of the visions, telling

Acts 11 · chapter mention

how God does not show favoritism, telling all of these things that happen.

And then it says in Acts 11, 17, if therefore God gave them the same gift, the gift of the

Holy Spirit that he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I

could withstand God?

If God poured out his Spirit, how could I not baptize them?

And then it says when they heard these things, when they heard the whole story, they became

silent and they glorified God, saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance

to life.

They began to glorify God.

And we can continue to glorify God.

I want to look at two verses in Revelation 5 verse 9.

Revelation 5:9

Then we're going to look at another one.

Because they began to glorify God because people from all these nations had come together.

And in Revelation 5 verse 9, it says, they sung a new song.

Revelation 5:9

This is a throne room of heaven.

They sung a new song saying, you are worthy, O Lamb of God, to take the scroll and to open

its seals, for you were slain and you have redeemed us to God by your blood.

And then it says, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, the worldwide, they

begun to glory.

We can glory in God because that glorifying God is going to continue for all eternity.

And then in chapter 7 verse 9, it says, after these things I looked and behold, a great

multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.

That's everybody.

Whosoever believes standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with the white

robes.

So the question is, have you believed?

Are you included in that whosoever?

Are you included in that nationwide, worldwide acceptance that Jesus has for every person?

I want to close with a story.

The evangelist was preaching in paradise.

He's passed away now, but he was a friend of mine, Ron Halverson, who was famous for

a book, Gangs to God, as he had grown up living in New York City, being part of gangs.

He became a powerful evangelist.

And it was probably about 30 years ago he was speaking in Honolulu.

He was speaking in Hawaii.

And he told the story of one night some young people came to the evangelistic meeting.

And one of them in particular was a big kind of a gang member, a Samoan who really didn't

want to have anything to do with this message of truth.

And he only went because somebody invited him and he was ready to just kind of ignore

it, go through that meeting, and go on with his life.

He came expecting to ignore the message.

But that night something unexpected happened because the Spirit was stronger than the swagger

of the young man.

And the young man named Sims, he was in that meeting and he heard the words of the Bible.

And he heard about prophecies being fulfilled.

He heard about the signs of the times taking place.

He heard about a Savior who died on the cross dying for his sins.

And this big Samoan who was there to ignore instead surrendered.

Surrendered his life, surrendered his heart, surrendered his drugs, surrendered his attitude.

And before those meetings were over, Sims had been baptized.

And almost immediately, just as he had been a leader of young people, taking them in a

negative direction, he suddenly began to take people in a positive direction and had Bible

studies and was bringing other people to church and other people were being led to Jesus and

other people were being baptized.

And I actually just communicated with Brother Sims just a few weeks ago and he said, I'm

still passionate about Jesus and I still am trying my best to live my life for Jesus and

trying my best to bring someone else.

Trying to have the eyes of Jesus.

You ready to have the eyes of Jesus?

Because Jesus has accepted each one of us and we have an opportunity to share him with

everybody no matter their background, no matter who they are.

Jesus has a place for them.

Let's bow our heads for prayer.

Dear God, thank you so much that whoever believes can come to you.

God, thank you that no matter our past, that you care about us.

No matter our culture, you care about us.

No matter who we are or what we've done, you died for each one of us.

And Lord, it's my prayer that each one of us here will daily accept that sacrifice that

you made on our behalf.

In your name we pray, Amen.